LEAD STORY
Here, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, east of Beirut. (CNS photo) Right, young people hold up a sign that reads "We love Jesus" as they gather for an outdoor Mass with Pope Benedict XVI on the waterfront in Beirut on September 16, 2012 (CNS photo/Mohamed Azakir, Reuters). Below, Lebanese at a Papal General Audience on September 2, 2020 at the Vatican; Pope Francis kisses the Lebanese flag (photo: Il Sismografo)
“In Lebanon, the message must be the looming possibility of global famine.” — A friend, summarizing the message of the Lebanese Global Conference, held on April 26 in Washington, D.C., as concern grows over the rising price of food and fertilizer in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East and beyond “Many of the Christian political leaders in Lebanon are for power. We don’t trust them. We don’t have true Christian leaders. Only Patriarch Raï. He should go to the United Nations [to advocate for Lebanon] with the Sunni and Druze. Only the Shia are happy with the present situation.” — a Lebanese participant in our Unitas: Friends of Lebanon video conference, sponsored by Urbi et Orbi Communications on Friday, April 29 12
INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2022
KEEPING HOPE ALIVE IN BELOVED LEBANON n BY CHRISTOPHER HART-MOYNIHAN *
A DESPITE SECTARIAN CONFLICT, A DEVASTATING EXPLOSION AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, LEBANON REMAINS “A MESSAGE OF FREEDOM AND PLURALISM” FOR THE WORLD
fter several years of anticipation, it seemed to be all but a formality: a Pope would be visiting Lebanon for the first time since 2012. Then came a flurry of statements from sources in the Curia that rolled back the travel plans. Now Pope Francis’s visit to Lebanon is once again at the stage where it had remained for quite some time: slated to happen sometime “very soon,” though nobody is quite certain when. The first news about a papal visit in June was, in fact, not released by the Vatican, but rather by the office of the Presi-
