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Keeping Hope Alive in Beloved Lebanon
• By Christopher Hart-Moynihan *
— 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
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, east of Beirut.
(CNS photo)
— a Lebanese participant in our Unitas: Friends of Lebanon video conference, sponsored by Urbi et Orbi Communications on Friday, April 29
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).
Despite sectarian conflict, a devastating explosion and economic collapse, Lebanon remains “a message of freedom and pluralism” for the world
After 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 President of Lebanon, which put out a statement on Tuesday, April 5. In it, they announced that Pope Francis would be coming to Lebanon on June 12-13.
According to the statement, news of the Pope’s visit had been confirmed by Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon. However, Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, characterized the June trip as simply “a possibility that is being studied.”
Then, in May, first the Vatican and then the Lebanese government backtracked. On Monday, May 9, two Vatican sources told Reuters that the trip would be postponed, followed by an announcement from Lebanese tourism minister Walid Nassar that Francis’ visit to Lebanon in June would, in fact, not take place in June due to the Pope’s health issues.
Francis has been suffering from back pain (sciatica) and has been told by his doctors to rest. In recent weeks, in his public appearances, he is in a wheelchair.
A visit from Pope Francis in June would have come at a delicate time for Lebanon, right after national elections in the country, which were held on May 15. The elections, which saw gains for political parties opposed to Hezbollah as well as the accession to Parliament of 11 candidates from newly-formed “independent” political parties, have been widely seen as a step forward for Lebanon.
The logo of “Friends of Lebanon,” a Unitas project of Urbi et Orbi Communications directed by Christopher Hart- Moynihan
In the face of massive economic and social collapse, however, as well as sectarian division (Hezbollah, for example, operates in large part as a “state within a state” in southern Lebanon, with a paramilitary wing that is far larger than the Lebanese Army), it is still unclear what kinds of concrete effects these electoral shifts will have. Many now speak of the “new poor” in Beirut — families who have lost everything in the economic collapse of the past several years, many of whom now seek a way out of the country at all costs.
Lebanon’s economic and humanitarian crises over the last several years have greatly affected religious orders in the country as well. There are 14 religious orders within the Maronite Church (5 male orders and 9 female orders) currently active in Lebanon, with a total of 719 monks and 812 nuns.
Now these orders — many of which are involved in running key institutions such as schools and hospitals — are struggling to continue their work. Due to the collapse of the economy and the devaluing of the Lebanese pound, many families in Lebanon have lost everything and can no longer afford to send their children to school.
Nevertheless, in the words of Bishop Michel Aoun of the (Maronite Catholic) Eparchy of Jbeil-Byblos (who, incidentally, shares a first and last name with the President of Lebanon), the Pope’s eventual visit “will give hope to the Lebanese people.”
Bishop Aoun also gave credit to Vatican officials for work that has already been done to support Lebanon: “Vatican diplomacy is doing its job in this field, in particular in urging countries to lend a hand to Lebanon at all levels.” (Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, visited Lebanon in February of this year.)
According to Bishop Aoun, the papal trip to Lebanon was to include “a Mass in Beirut, a meeting with President Aoun and political officials in the Republican Palace, a meeting with the spiritual authorities and leaders of religious denominations, a meeting with young people and a Prayer in the Port [of Beirut].”
The Port of Beirut is, of course, the site of the horrific explosion of August 4, 2020, which left hundreds dead and many thousands more injured, and destroyed a part of the city that, to this day, has not been fully rebuilt.
Pope Benedict XVI meets with religious authorities in Beirut during his visit in September 2012.
(photo: L’Osservatore Romano/AP)
A Story of Three Popes
As the leader of a Church with 1.3 billion members worldwide, Pope Francis has a unique ability among world leaders to focus attention on specific issues. At the same time, his multiple roles — as spiritual leader and apostolic successor to St. Peter, bishop of Rome, and head of state of the Vatican — mean that he has many different priorities at any given time.
For this reason, his commitment to visiting Lebanon means that he, and the Vatican, view the situation in the country as being of profound importance — as something worthy of international attention even in the midst of many other extremely pressing issues.
Why is the situation in Lebanon — home to a mere 6 million people, located at the far eastern edge of the Mediterranean, a country with no significant natural resources that is often overshadowed by its larger neighbors — so important that Francis has decided to make a personal visit?
To understand the answer to this question, we must return to the words of three Popes: Francis and his two immediate predecessors, Benedict XVI and John Paul II.
1997: John Paul II — “A New Hope for Lebanon”
During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II’s great interest in Lebanon was well-known. His words about Lebanon in a 1989 letter to the Lebanese Catholic bishops remain a popular refrain for Lebanese of all faiths to this day: “Lebanon is more than a country… it is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for the East as for the West.”
John Paul’s 1997 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, A New Hope for Lebanon, was the result of many years of dialogue between the Vatican, representatives of the Catholic Church in Lebanon, and John Paul himself. John Paul was able to travel to Lebanon in May of 1997 for the official signing of the Apostolic Exhortation.
The Apostolic Exhortation begins with a moving reflection on Lebanon’s unique place within the Christian world, and the unique challenges that arise from the presence of many different faiths in one country:
“Lebanon is home to Catholics who are members of different patriarchal Churches, as well as of the Latin Apostolic Vicariate,” John Paul wrote. “Because of this fact, right from the time he begins to reason, the young baptized Lebanese Catholic recognizes himself as a Maronite, or Greek-Melkite, or Armenian Catholic, or Syriac Catholic, or Chal dean, or Latin. It is therefore through this path that he opens himself to the Christian life and that he is called to discover the universality of the Church.
“Christians from other Churches and Ecclesial Communities also live in Lebanon. The other important part of the population is made up of Muslims and Druze. For the country, these different communities constitute at the same time a wealth, an originality, and a difficulty. But bringing Lebanon to life is a common task of all its inhabitants.”
Hundreds of thousands gather at an open-air Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Beirut during his trip to Lebanon in May 1997
(photo: Al-Safir/AFP/Getty Images)
Later on, there is an assessment of the difficulties Lebanon faces. These words, written between 1995 and 1997, would not seem out of place today, in 2022:
“This project is largely conditioned by the years spent in war and by the serious situation that hangs over this region of the Middle East. I am aware of the current major difficulties: the threatening occupation of southern Lebanon, the country’s economic situation, the presence of non- Lebanese armed forces on the territory, the fact that the refugee problem has not yet been fully resolved, as well as the danger of extremism and the impression of some that they are frustrated in their rights. [...] From this, the temptation to leave insinuates itself more and more among the Lebanese, especially among the young.
“But despite everything, hope remains alive in them. They have not lost their faith in themselves, nor their attachment to their country and its democratic tradition.”
John Paul’s visit to Lebanon was, in some ways, a culmination of several decades of intense efforts to prevent the country from splintering. In his book Dévastation et Rédemption, Fady Noun, a Lebanese journalist, offers a little-known account of how the Polish pontiff’s dedication to Lebanon originated.
“When in October 1978, after his election, [John Paul II] went out to greet the crowds in Saint Peter’s Square, at a time when posters and banners were not allowed, he saw one being raised that said, ‘Holy Father, Save Lebanon!’ just before it quickly disappeared,” Fady wrote. “Like an arrow, that message struck his heart. At the end of the celebrations, after greeting everyone, he came back inside and went to kneel before the Almighty. He asked Jesus, present in the Eucharist, to let him live long enough to save Lebanon.”
Such a simple deed can influence the course of events. In 1978, John Paul II had already decided that Vatican diplomacy would focus on preventing Lebanon from breaking up.
John Paul II saw in Lebanon many commonalities with his home country of Poland, and he believed sustained dialogue and diplomacy could achieve a breakthrough for Lebanon, similar to the cascade of events that had followed his 1979 visit to Poland.
But despite the pontiff’s vision for Lebanon, progress there was not destined to take the form of sweeping, dramatic changes like glasnost, perestroika, or the Fall of the Berlin Wall, but rather slow, incremental advances like the signing of the 1989 Taif Agreement and the disarmament of various militias.
