Pope Leo XIV greets the crowd during the weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, June 18, 2025. (Credit: Andreas Solaro/AFP)
Pope Leo XIV will come to Lebanon "by December," Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai announced Tuesday in an interview with al-Arabiya.
"The date of the visit is not yet confirmed, but the pope will come to Lebanon by December," the Maronite patriarch stated. He also said that "preparations are already underway," pending the Vatican setting a date for the trip.
Since his election in May, Leo XIV, 69, the first pope from the United States, has not made any trips abroad. In July, he expressed his intention to visit Turkey before the end of the year, on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, celebrated in Iznik.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, had repeatedly expressed the desire to visit Beirut, which to this day remains marked by the visits of Benedict XVI in 2012 and John Paul II in 1997. Recurrent health problems, however, repeatedly delayed any possible trip and he did not have the opportunity to come to Lebanon before his death on April 21.
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