Pope Leo XIV arrives in Lebanon Nov. 30-Dec. 2 bearing the Beatitude “Blessed are the peacemakers,” offering hope to a nation battered by war, economic collapse, and Christian exodus.
Newsroom (26/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) As billboards bearing Pope Leo XIV’s portrait line freshly repaired highways with the plea “Lebanon wants peace,” the country’s Catholics are preparing to welcome the pontiff on his first pastoral journey since celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in Turkey earlier this year.
The Nov. 30-Dec. 2 visit, whose official motto is taken from the Sermon on the Mount — “Blessed are the peacemakers” — is being framed by the Vatican and local church leaders as both a pilgrimage of solidarity and an urgent appeal for stability in the Middle East’s last country where Christians still wield significant political and institutional influence.
“This is a critical moment for Christians in all the Middle East; not only Lebanon,” said Michel Constantin, regional director for Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt at the Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission. “Lebanon is still the only place in the region where Christians have a substantial presence in politics, governance, and economics.”
By constitutional tradition, Lebanon’s president and army commander-in-chief must be Maronite Catholic, while Christians retain major influence in the judiciary. Yet the community has been hemorrhaging members for decades. A century ago Christians comprised roughly 20 percent of the broader Middle East population; today the figure hovers around 5 percent.
The Maronite Church remains the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon, but the pope’s visit is deliberately addressed to the entire Catholic family — Maronite, Melkite Greek, Armenian, Syriac, and Chaldean — all in full communion with Rome.
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, widely regarded as the country’s most influential Christian voice, has repeatedly called for Lebanese neutrality in regional conflicts. “The church is suffering alongside the Lebanese people,” he said, adding that the papal visit should remind “all Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, of their responsibility to preserve Lebanon.”
Even after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November 2024, Israeli strikes have continued almost daily. A Nov. 23 airstrike in Beirut killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Tabatabai, and five others. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has pledged to disarm Hezbollah — the only militia that retained its weapons after the 1975-1990 civil war — but the process remains stalled.
In the predominantly Christian border town of Rmeich, Mayor Hanna Amil told Reuters, “We hope the pope’s visit to Lebanon will be a message to put a limit to these wars.” Thousands of southern Christians remain displaced.
Church institutions — schools, universities, hospitals — continue to serve Muslims and Christians alike but are buckling under Lebanon’s protracted economic collapse. “They are suffering a lot due to the economic crisis,” Constantin said. “We need a new way of thinking to sustain and continue our presence.”
Lebanon’s ambassador to the Holy See, Fadi Assaf, described the trip as “exceptional,” saying it would spotlight the country’s cascading crises while acknowledging that “the Lebanese know full well that [the visit] will not solve all their problems.”
Despite the bleak backdrop, optimism persists in ecclesiastical circles. Bishop Cesar Essayan, apostolic vicar of Beirut, told OSV News: “We are looking forward to this visit. All the Lebanese people are preparing ourselves to receive the pope with great joy.”
For three days, the 87-year-old pontiff will walk among a people who, in the words of roadside banners and parish prayers, simply “want peace” — and who hope the voice of Peter might yet help them find it.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA and OSV News
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