The first American pope will arrive from Turkey, where he has been visiting for four days and warned that the future of humanity is threatened due to an unusually large number of bloody conflicts in the world and condemned violence in the name of religion.
As reported by Reuters, Leo is scheduled to land at Hariri International Airport in Beirut at 3:45 p.m., before meeting with the president and prime minister and addressing national leaders, which is the pope’s second visit to a foreign government.
Lebanon, which has the largest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, has been rocked by spillovers from the conflict in Gaza, as Israel and Lebanon’s Shia Muslim militant group Hezbollah went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.
Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts one million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are concerned that Israel will dramatically escalate its attacks in the coming months.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Friday he hoped the pope’s visit would help end Israeli attacks.
Various Lebanese communities also welcomed the pope’s visit, with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon “needs the glimmer of hope this visit represents.”
On Saturday, Pope Leo visited Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque, in his first visit as pope to a Muslim place of worship. He took off his shoes as a sign of respect but did not pray at the mosque as planned, which appears to have surprised Vatican officials.
The pope has a packed travel schedule in Lebanon, which includes visits to five cities and towns from Sunday to Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
