BEIRUT — Tens of thousands of people gathered in Lebanese capital witness the speech of Pope Leo XIV message of unity into a destroyed city and a fractured state on Tuesday.
Pontiff before Mass went to the powerful website chemical explosion In August 2020, entire neighborhoods were torn apart, killing 218 people and injuring 7,000 and displacing at least 300,000 people from their homes.
After holding a moment of silent prayer in front of a memorial to the victims, he headed to Beirut's historic waterfront in his Popemobile, waving to the cheering crowds, some of whom had waited hours to see him. Many waved Lebanese flags and flowers, anthems were sung.
In front of a crowd of about 150,000, he called on Lebanon to “shed the armor of our ethnic and political divisions” and address decades of conflict, political paralysis and economic suffering.
“The Middle East needs new approaches to reject the mindset of revenge and violence, overcome political, social and religious divisions and open new chapters for reconciliation and peace,” he said in his sermon, speaking in French from a stage next to the shimmering Mediterranean Sea.
French is widely spoken in Lebanon along with Arabic, a testament to the country's religious and ethnic diversity as well as its colonial past. The country gained independence from France only in 1943.
