Pope Leo XIV concluded his first foreign trip as pontiff with an appeal for peace in Lebanon and across the Middle East, telling 150,000 gathered for Mass in Beirut that “the path of mutual hostility and destruction in the horror of war has been travelled too long,” Reuters reported on December 2.

Lebanon, which has the largest Christian population share in the Middle East, has faced years of economic collapse, political paralysis and the impact of regional conflict. Church officials accompanying the pope described the visit as an effort to “rebuild hope and moral strength” in a country strained by crisis.

“The road of war only leads to more loss, more fear, more silence in homes once full of life,” Leo said, his voice carrying across the seafront in a ceremony described as one of the largest public gatherings in Lebanon in years.

Earlier in the day, the pope stood at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, meeting survivors and families of the more than 200 people killed when a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrate detonated and tore through the capital. Witnesses said Leo paused for several minutes in silence, holding a rosary as he looked over the still-scarred dockside.

“I was deeply moved by my brief visit to the port of Beirut, where an explosion devastated the area, not to mention many lives,” he told President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese officials during a farewell ceremony at the airport. 

“I pray for all the victims, and I carry with me the pain and the thirst for truth and justice felt by so many families, and by an entire country.”

In his final address to crowds, the pope urged a shift away from what he called the “old reflexes” of division and retaliation.

“The Middle East needs new approaches,” he said. “It must reject the mindset of revenge and violence, rise above political, social and religious fractures, and open new chapters in the name of reconciliation and peace.”

“We need to change course. We need to educate our hearts for peace,”he added.

Turning to leaders in Lebanon and states affected by conflict across the region, Leo urged them to “listen to the cry of your peoples who are calling for peace”. 

He pressed the international community to intensify efforts to support dialogue and stability in Lebanon, which continues to endure the spillover of the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza and periodic Israeli airstrikes along its southern border.

During his three-day tour, Leo visited the Monastery of Saint Maroun in Annaya, prayed at the tomb of St Charbel Makhlouf, met clergy at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, and presided over an ecumenical gathering in Martyrs’ Square that drew Christian, Sunni and Shia leaders.