Beirut — Pope Leo XIV ended his first overseas papal trip with prayers at Beirut's devastated port and a Mass attended by an estimated 150,000 worshippers in a country desperate for signs of hope amid fear of renewed war.
The pope said prayers at the site of the blast, which ripped through Beirut's downtown district five years ago after a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate exploded — a devastating event attributed to negligence and government dysfunction. No senior official has been convicted in the attack, which caused billions of dollars of damage to an already collapsed economy.
The pope lit a candle in front of a memorial engraved with the names of more than 200 people killed in the explosion and met with relatives, some who carried framed photos of their lost loved ones.
The scorched shell of a grain silo destroyed in the blast overlooked the site.
The pope referred to the blast in his homily at Mass, calling for Lebanon to be a place for justice. He said it was natural to feel paralyzed "by powerlessness in the face of evil and oppressed by so many difficult situations."
He called for the country to be a place "where peace and justice reign."
"Lebanon – stand up! Be a home of justice and fraternity!" he said, urging it to be a "prophetic sign" of peace for the region.
Worshippers at the waterfront mass included United Nations peacekeepers, in uniform with their blue berets. Many are from predominantly Catholic countries, among the roughly 50 nations making up the mission monitoring the border between Lebanon and Israel.
In his farewell speech at Beirut's airport, the pope referred to the south of Lebanon, where Israeli attacks are ongoing, as places he had not been able to visit on this trip because of the "conflict and uncertainty" there.
Israel has heavily damaged several Christian villages in attacks during its war with the militant group Hezbollah, even after a ceasefire signed last year between Lebanon and Israel. Hezbollah has not attacked Israel since then but the Israeli military says, without providing evidence, the group is rebuilding its military capability.
Areas in southern Lebanon are part of the Galilee, stretching into present-day northern Israel, where Jesus preached and performed miracles.
Pope Leo, the first American leader of the world's Catholics, met Monday evening with young people. Lebanon's Christians and young adults are a disproportionately large percentage of the population who are leaving the country, many convinced they have no future here.
"Dear young people — perhaps you regret inheriting a world torn apart by wars and disfigured by social justice but there is hope and there is hope within you," he told them.
Many Lebanese who welcomed the pope's arrival feared his departure would be a prelude to intensified Israeli attacks.
"I came here because I wanted to be among people who are hopeful for peace and I was hoping that this would be contagious," says Rabab Htait, a former teacher. "What we're doing here is hoping for a miracle because the situation now calls for no less than a miracle."
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