Pope Leo XIV urges Lebanon’s Church to turn faith into concrete peacemaking through coexistence, education, welcoming migrants, and daily charity
Newsroom (01/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) On the second day of his Apostolic Journey to Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV told bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers that the Church’s faith must express itself as service and shared responsibility if it is to sustain hope in a country still scarred by conflict and crisis.
Speaking beneath the towering statue of Our Lady of Lebanon at the national shrine in Harissa, the Pope took the visit’s motto — “Blessed are the peacemakers” — as his starting point. He recalled Saint John Paul II’s description of Lebanon’s Church as bearer of a special duty to keep hope alive, then declared that the four testimonies he had just heard proved that duty is still being fulfilled in strikingly practical ways.
“These testimonies,” he said, “show that the expectations placed on you continue to be met — not with words, but with life.”
Drawing strength from Lebanon’s spiritual roots, Pope Leo XIV pointed to the silent witness of Saint Charbel and to Harissa itself as a place where Lebanese of all backgrounds find common ground. Perseverance amid “the sound of weapons” and daily hardship, he insisted, flows from prayer — “the invisible bridge which unites hearts” — and from remaining anchored to Christ. Quoting the late Pope Francis, he described faith as “an anchor cast in heaven” that gives direction and stability when everything else shakes.
The Pope then highlighted concrete signs of coexistence that had emerged from the testimonies. He cited the village of Debbabiyé, where, according to Father Youhanna, Christians and Muslims, citizens and refugees, continue to share life despite bombardments and scarcity. A single Syrian coin slipped among Lebanese ones in the parish alms box became, for the Pope, a small but eloquent symbol: everyone can give and everyone can receive.
Echoing Benedict XVI’s 2012 appeal during his own visit to Lebanon, Pope Leo reaffirmed that the Christian answer to crisis is always “forgiveness instead of revenge, unity instead of division, service instead of domination.” Yet he acknowledged that many young Lebanese still face exploitation and despair, feeling they have no real future. The Church, he said, must offer them “concrete and viable prospects for growth,” including meaningful roles within its own structures.
Turning to the testimony of Loren, a migrant woman who accompanies others forced from their homes, the Pope insisted that no one who knocks on the Church’s door should ever feel rejected. Migrants, he stressed, are not a burden but a reminder of the human cost of war and a call to active welcome.
Sister Dima’s decision to keep her school open even during intense violence drew particular praise. Transforming classrooms into places of learning, refuge, and encounter, she embodied what the Pope called the Church’s enduring educational mission in Lebanon. “Our first school is the Cross,” he reminded the assembly, “and our one Teacher is Christ.”
Father Charbel’s prison ministry provided a final illustration: even in places of suffering and failure, the Church is called to recognise human dignity and the possibility of renewal through God’s mercy.
Before concluding, Pope Leo XIV deposited a Golden Rose at the shrine — a traditional papal gesture — explaining that the gift symbolises the call to become the “fragrance of Christ” through everyday choices rooted in charity and unity. That fragrance, he said, is meant to permeate ordinary life and is offered to everyone, not reserved for the few.
In a country searching for trust and a viable future, the Pope told Lebanon’s clergy and religious that steadfast faith, inclusive community life, and practical solidarity remain the surest paths to peace.
“Keep being peacemakers,” he urged as he departed the shrine, “because the Beatitudes are not dreams — they are the roadmap for Lebanon.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files form Vatican News
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