At open air mass in Beirut, Lebanese say Pope Leo uplifted the vulnerable

"BEIRUT - Pope Leo XIV capped his first international trip as pontiff with an open air mass on the waterfront in Beirut, where he met with some of Lebanon's most vulnerable and implored a crowd of tens of thousands of Christians to stay in the Middle East, despite the decades of hardship and turmoil. "Have courage!" Leo said after driving through the cheering throng and shuffling to the stage in purple and white robes. "The whole Church looks to you with affection and admiration," he added."

"Earlier in the day, the pope toured the site of the deadly port blast in 2020 that killed over 200 people and injured thousands more. There, he met with the families of the victims, leading a silent prayer near the port's destroyed grain silos, a visual marker of the tragedy that saw 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate explode in a massive fireball above Beirut. "I carry with me the pain and the thirst for truth and justice," he told the victims' families, hinting at the long, drawn-out government investigation into who was responsible for importing and storing the chemical compound, which is often used to make explosives."

"William Noun lost his brother in the blast and said Tuesday that the pope's visit was comforting. He came to the event with his young son, Joe, who he named after his brother. "The fact that he came and stood with us at the port was enough to send a message to all these officials sitting in the front row that what happened is not forgotten," Noun said."

Pope Leo XIV visited Beirut, celebrated an open-air mass on the waterfront, and urged tens of thousands of Christians to remain in the Middle East despite decades of hardship. He toured the site of the 2020 port blast that killed over 200 people and prayed silently beside the destroyed grain silos where 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded. He met families of the victims and said he carries their pain and thirst for truth and justice. Relatives described the visit as comforting. Current and former Lebanese officials, some implicated in obstructing the inquiry and in broader corruption, attended the events.

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