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Pope’s Lebanon visit includes key meetings, massive mass in Beirut
Pope Leo XIV has arrived at the international airport, and we are expecting him to move from there with the Lebanese president.
They’ll meet officials and there are several events scheduled, including a big mass in the centre of Beirut.
The whole country is looking forward to this visit, and people have been waiting at the airport to welcome him. This is the fourth visit by a pope to Lebanon. In 1998, Pope John Paul II came a year after Israel’s war on Lebanon, and this visit will also take place around a year after the ceasefire with Israel was announced.
This puts a lot of pressure on the Lebanese government. These three days of the visit are seen as a kind of Israeli ceasefire period in the south, a possibility for things to calm down.
Pope Leo says any solution to Israel-Palestine conflict must include Palestinian state
Pope Leo XIV has said the only solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican’s position.
“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Pope Leo, the first American pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkiye to Lebanon during his first in-flight news conference.
“We are also friends with Israel, and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.
