Pope in Lebanon prays for peace at tomb of saint revered by Christians and Muslims alike

ANNAYA Lebanon AP Pope Leo XIV prayed Monday at the tomb of a Lebanese saint revered among Christians and Muslims as he opened his first full day in Lebanon with a message of peace and religious coexistence in a region torn by conflict Bells rang out as Leo s covered popemobile snaked its way through the rain and thousands of enthusiastic Lebanese lining his motorcade direction into Annaya around kilometers miles from Beirut Specific waved Lebanese and Vatican flags and tossed flower petals and rice on his car in a gesture of welcome as he zoomed by Every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the hilltop monastery of St Maroun overlooking the sea to pray at the tomb of St Charbel Makhlouf a Lebanese Maronite hermit who lived from to He is known for alleged miraculous healings that have occurred after people prayed for his intercession Leo prayed quietly in the darkened tomb and offered a lamp as a gift of light for the monastery Sisters and brothers the present day we entrust to St Charbel s intercession the necessities of the church Lebanon and the world Leo commented in French For the world we ask for peace We especially implore it for Lebanon and for the entire Levant Leo s visit to the tomb the first by a pope opened a busy day for history s first American pope He then travelled to the town of Harissa north of Beirut where he received a raucous cheering welcome from priests and nuns at the seat of the Maronite church in Lebanon Women in the crowd ululated and others shouted Viva il Papa Long live the pope as Leo arrived at the Our Lady of Lebanon Basilica in Harissa a town north of Beirut They reached out to touch him and kiss his hand as he made his way to the front of the sanctuary Afterward the pope was to preside over an interfaith gathering alongside Lebanon s Christian and Muslim leaders in the capital Beirut A message of peace in a time of turmoil There Leo was expected to hammer home his core message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence in Lebanon and beyond at a time of conflict in Gaza and political tensions in Lebanon that are worse than they have been in years His visit comes at a tenuous time for the tiny Mediterranean country after years of economic crises and political deadlock punctuated by the Beirut port blast We as Lebanese need this visit after all the wars crises and despair that we have lived explained the Rev Youssef Nasr the secretary-general of Catholic Schools in Lebanon who was on hand to welcome Leo at the Our Lady of Lebanon Basilica in Harissa a town north of Beirut The pope s visit gives a new push to the Lebanese to rise and cling to their country More of late Lebanon has been deeply divided over calls for Hezbollah a Lebanese militant group and political party to disarm after fighting a war with Israel last year that left the country deeply damaged Leo was moving through Lebanon in a closed popemobile a contrast with the previous pontiff Pope Francis who eschewed bullet-proofed popemobiles throughout his -year pontificate Lebanese troops deployed on both sides of the road along his motorcade road Leo was to end the day at a rally for Lebanese youth at Bkerki the seat of the Maronite church where he is expected to encourage them to persevere and not leave the country like a great number of others despite Lebanon s a large number of challenges A plea for Christians to stay Leo arrived Sunday in Lebanon from Turkey where he opened his first trip as pope In his opening speech Leo challenged Lebanon s political leaders to put aside their differences and work to be true peacemakers while also urging Lebanese Christians in particular to remain in the country In current times Christians make up around a third of Lebanon s million people giving the small nation on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East A power sharing agreement in place since independence from France calls for the president to be a Maronite Christian making Lebanon the only Arab country with a Christian head of state Lebanon s Christian locality has endured in its ancestral homeland even as the rise of the Islamic State drove an exodus from communities in Iraq and Syria that dated to the time of the Apostles While the Christian exodus in Lebanon has been at a slower trickle after the main flight during the civil war emigration remains a concern for the Vatican which sees the Christian presence here as a bulwark for the church in the region We will stay here disclosed May Noon a pilgrim waiting for Leo outside the St Charbel Monastery No one can uproot us from this country we must live it in it as brothers because the church has no enemy Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay accompanied a group of people from the Lebanese diaspora in Australia to welcome Leo and join in his prayer for peace but to also reinforce the Christian presence in the country Even though we live abroad we feel that we need to advocacy young people and the families to stay here he disclosed as he waited for the pope to meet with clergy in Harissa north of Beirut We don t like to see more and more people leaving Lebanon especially the Christians Tarabay noted Lebanese were grateful that Leo chose to visit on his maiden voyage as pope He decided to say that there we have suffering people we have young people that are very much like at the edge of desperation he mentioned Leo he stated decided I have to go there and to tell them You re not forgotten Winfield and Chehayab contributed from Beirut Abbey Sewell contributed from Harissa Associated Press religion coverage receives advocacy through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content Source