President Michel Aoun is received on the tarmac at Rome airport Sunday. (Credit: @LBPresidency)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun, who arrived in Rome on Sunday afternoon, renewed his invitation to Pope Francis to visit Lebanon. Aoun is due to meet with the pope Monday morning at the Vatican.
Here’s what we know:
• "I bring His Holiness a message of love on behalf of the Lebanese, and renew my invitation for him to come to Lebanon," Aoun said in remarks reported by the presidency's Twitter account. "Christianity in Lebanon is not threatened. I look forward to the pope's visit, as a message of hope, to reaffirm that Lebanon is not ephemeral and that it will remain a model of living together despite difficulties."
• While at the Vatican, the head of state will also meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s No. 2, and the pope’s secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.
• Aoun is accompanied by Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, as well as Lebanon's ambassador to the Vatican, Farid el-Khazen.
• “The details of a long-awaited visit by the pope to Lebanon in September will be discussed,” according to a source close to the presidency. “President Aoun is going to the Vatican to invite the pope back and discuss the situation in Lebanon,” the source said, “as if to thank him for his prayers and for all that the Holy See is doing to ensure a diplomatic umbrella for Lebanon.”
• The Vatican has repeatedly expressed its concern for Lebanon and its readiness to help its people as the country continues to be mired in an unprecedented multidimensional crisis.
• In early February, Archbishop Gallagher while in Beirut called on the international community to “help Lebanon put an end to its economic crisis.” The archbishop also assured that the Vatican was ready to sponsor a national dialogue between the country’s political parties, if an official request is made by the groups concerned.
• On Tuesday, Aoun will meet in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, whom he will congratulate on his re-election on Jan. 29 for a new seven-year term. He will return to Lebanon the same day in the evening.