Pope Francis kissing a Lebanese flag. (Credit: Vatican website.)
Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis never had the opportunity to visit Lebanon before his death, which the Vatican announced Monday. But throughout his papacy, he showed particular care for the Lebanese people.The head of the Catholic Church had repeatedly expressed his desire to visit Beirut — still marked by the visits of Benedict XVI in 2012 and John Paul II in 1997 — once “conditions were met.” However, recurring health issues repeatedly delayed a possible trip to the Land of the Cedars. Even from afar, Francis left an impression on many Lebanese through his appeals to the country’s leaders and his solidarity with a “nation weakened by multiple crises,” as he once described it.Francis gave Lebanon a prominent place early in his papacy. For the first Way of the Cross in 2013, he entrusted the meditations to a group of young Lebanese...
Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis never had the opportunity to visit Lebanon before his death, which the Vatican announced Monday. But throughout his papacy, he showed particular care for the Lebanese people.The head of the Catholic Church had repeatedly expressed his desire to visit Beirut — still marked by the visits of Benedict XVI in 2012 and John Paul II in 1997 — once “conditions were met.” However, recurring health issues repeatedly delayed a possible trip to the Land of the Cedars. Even from afar, Francis left an impression on many Lebanese through his appeals to the country’s leaders and his solidarity with a “nation weakened by multiple crises,” as he once described it.Francis gave Lebanon a prominent place early in his papacy. For the first Way of the Cross in 2013, he entrusted the meditations to a group of...
