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Pope Leo has called for \u201ccoexistence\u201d during the second day of his visit to Lebanon, gathering clerics from across the religious spectrum on both sides of a former civil war dividing line, and appealing for unity in a region fractured by violence.<\/p>\n
Standing in Martyrs\u2019 Square on Monday, a site that once marked the \u201cgreen line\u201d dividing Muslim west and Christian east Beirut during the 1975\u201390 civil war, Leo said Lebanon showed that \u201cfear, distrust and prejudice do not have the final word\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cIn an age when coexistence can seem like a distant dream, the people of Lebanon, while embracing different religions, stand as a powerful reminder that \u2026 unity, reconciliation, and peace are possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMay every bell toll; every adhan, every call to prayer blend into a single, soaring hymn,\u201d he added, using the Arabic term for the Muslim call to prayer.<\/p>\n Martyrs\u2019 Square \u2013 home to a monument honouring those who died for Lebanon\u2019s independence, and later a focal point of mass protests demanding political change \u2013 has long symbolised the country\u2019s struggle to overcome sectarianism.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said the location showed the contrast between the image of interfaith unity amid Lebanon\u2019s entrenched politics.<\/p>\n \u201cReligious leaders coming together under one tent look like they are speaking with one voice, but the reality is, this is a deeply divided country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of his first overseas trip as pope, which also included a stop in Turkiye. He met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world\u2019s only Christian head of state, and addressed diplomats and officials at the presidential palace.<\/p>\n Earlier on Monday, the US pontiff visited the tomb of St Charbel, a Catholic saint revered across the region, before travelling to Harissa, a hillside shrine overlooking the Mediterranean. Crowds shouted \u201cViva il Papa\u201d as he arrived under the towering statue of the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n About 15,000 young people later gathered outside the Maronite Catholic headquarters to hear the 70-year-old pontiff speak.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is hope within you, a gift that we adults seem to have lost,\u201d he told them. \u201cYou have more time to dream, to plan and to do good.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebanon is home to one of the Middle East\u2019s largest Christian communities, roughly 30 percent of the population, alongside Muslims, including Shia and Sunni communities, as well as Alawite and Druze minorities. Representatives of all major sects attended Monday\u2019s interfaith gathering, including leaders from communities that have faced violence in neighbouring Syria.<\/p>\n Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, deputy head of the Supreme Shia Islamic Council, thanked the pope for visiting, but warned the country still bore deep wounds \u201cas a result of Israel\u2019s continued attacks\u201d, local media reported.<\/p>\n As the pope delivered his message of unity, the country remains entangled in a broader regional conflict. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on October 8, 2023, describing the attacks as an act of solidarity after Israel launched a genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza the previous day.<\/p>\n The Lebanese armed group was later severely weakened after Israel\u2019s major escalation in the country in September 2024.<\/p>\n Since a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah has responded to Israeli attacks only once. Israel, however, has continued cross-border strikes that have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, including about 127 civilians, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Khodr said Leo avoided direct comment on the fighting, though he had previously called for dialogue.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people believe the pope\u2019s presence is the only deterrent in the face of Israeli threats \u2026 and that once he leaves, the shadow of war will change and there could be a different reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of concern of renewed conflict and that Israel will escalate its attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s political paralysis and economic collapse have also weighed heavily on the visit. Decades of state mismanagement spiralled into a financial meltdown in late 2019, plunging millions into poverty.<\/p>\n The country also continues to host about one million Syrian and Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Leo will visit the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, before leading a mass on the city\u2019s historic waterfront.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pope Leo has called for \u201ccoexistence\u201d during the second day of his visit to Lebanon, gathering clerics from across the religious spectrum on both sides of a former civil war dividing line, and appealing for unity in a region fractured by violence. Standing in Martyrs\u2019 Square on Monday, a site that once marked the \u201cgreen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Viva il Papa\u2019<\/h2>\n
Israeli escalation looms over visit<\/h2>\n
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