Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher arrives in Beirut on Monday. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The Secretary for Relations of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, arrived Monday evening in Beirut as part of an official visit during which he is expected to meet with the president, the prime minister and the parliament speaker, as well as a number of Christian and Muslim dignitaries.
Here’s what we know:
• Present at the airport to welcome the Vatican’s No. 3, the Lebanese ambassador to the Holy See, Farid al-Khazen, noted that this is the archbishop’s first trip to Lebanon.
• Gallagher will take part in the opening of a symposium on “John Paul II and the Lebanon-message” at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik on Tuesday.
• On Monday, Pope Francis once again assured a Lebanese delegation visiting the Vatican that he “will visit Lebanon because he has promised to do so.”
• At the end of November, during a visit by Prime Minister Najib Mikati to the Vatican, the pope compared the country to a dying person and promised to do everything in his power to help it “rise again.”
• During a visit to Cyprus in early December, the pope said he was “very concerned” about the crisis in Beirut.
• Last April, the pope announced his wish to go to Beirut “as soon as the conditions are favorable.”