The Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, received by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Oct. 25, 2025. (Credit: Grand Serail's X account)
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Nawaf Salam traveled Saturday to Rome and the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV ahead of the pontiff's planned visit to Lebanon at the end of November.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), preparations for this historic visit are ongoing in coordination between Lebanese religious authorities and the Vatican. Despite changing security conditions — with Israeli attacks still daily in South Lebanon and the Bekaa — the pope's visit is still scheduled for the set dates, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, according to an ecclesiastical official cited in the daily Nidaa al-Watan.
Ahead of the papal tour, the pontiff received Salam at the Holy See, in a meeting described as "cordial" by a press release from the Vatican Press Office. According to the statement, both parties reaffirmed "the good bilateral relations," highlighting "the hopes the Lebanese people place in the reform process and the country's stability," as well as their "shared hope that comprehensive peace will soon be established in the Middle East."
In a message posted on X, Salam said he assured the pope that "the Lebanese, of all faiths, are joyfully awaiting your arrival."
"His Holiness reaffirmed his commitment to Lebanon's mission and his support for the Palestinian people. I assured him that the unity, sovereignty and freedom of Lebanon are the right of every Lebanese. Peace in the region will only be possible through justice, particularly the right of the Palestinians to an independent state," added the prime minister.
Sahar Baassiri, Salam's wife, injured her shoulder
The visit was marred by an accident involving Salam’s wife, Sahar Baassiri, who fractured her shoulder in a fall after meeting the pope and was treated at a hospital in Rome.
During his trip, the prime minister also met with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as well as the Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, before visiting the Maronite College of Rome and the Maronite Marian Institute at the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, where he toured the seminary library.
On Sunday, Oct. 19, as he received President Joseph Aoun on the sidelines of the canonization ceremony of Bishop Ignatius Maloyan, the Pope described this trip to Lebanon as a "message of peace and hope."
The Holy Father will make his apostolic visit to Lebanon after a stop in Turkey from Nov. 27 to 30 for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea — the first in Christian history. This trip will be his first tour abroad since his election on May 8.
The announcement of the visit has sparked enthusiasm among the country’s faithful, especially since Pope Francis was unable to visit.
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