John Paul II’s popemobile making its way through the crowd during the pope’s visit to Lebanon, May 1997. (Credit: L’Orient-le Jour Archives)
Pope Leo XIV's three-day visit to Lebanon comes at a difficult moment for the country, which stands more than ever at a crossroads between entirely opposite paths — and still cannot decide which one to take. Such uncertainty invites us, once again, to reflect on John Paul II’s famous notion of 'Lebanon is a message,' and to consider whether the course it set can still be more or less maintained, or whether the ideal has become wholly utopian.“Lebanon is more than a country: It is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for both the East and the West,” wrote the Polish pope in his apostolic letter addressed “to all the bishops of the Catholic Church on the situation in Lebanon,” dated Sept. 7, 1989. The context is well known: the Civil War had not yet ended, and General Michel Aoun, the interim prime minister during...
Pope Leo XIV's three-day visit to Lebanon comes at a difficult moment for the country, which stands more than ever at a crossroads between entirely opposite paths — and still cannot decide which one to take. Such uncertainty invites us, once again, to reflect on John Paul II’s famous notion of 'Lebanon is a message,' and to consider whether the course it set can still be more or less maintained, or whether the ideal has become wholly utopian.“Lebanon is more than a country: It is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for both the East and the West,” wrote the Polish pope in his apostolic letter addressed “to all the bishops of the Catholic Church on the situation in Lebanon,” dated Sept. 7, 1989. The context is well known: the Civil War had not yet ended, and General Michel Aoun, the interim prime...