Lebanese president meets with Pope Leo XIV

The head of state of the Land of the Cedars then met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, accompanied by Monsignor Mirosław Wachowski, Under-Secretary for Relations with States.

This meeting in the Secretariat of State highlighted the “good bilateral relations” between Lebanon and the Holy See. Both sides praised “the traditional and constant role of the Catholic Church in Lebanese society.”

The meeting also provided an opportunity to express the hope “that the country, through the stabilization and reform process, would experience a new season of political harmony and economic recovery, enabling it to strengthen the ideals of coexistence among faiths and the promotion of development that characterize it.”

The Lebanese president and the papal diplomats also discussed the “necessary and pressing need to foster the pacification of the entire Middle East region,” according to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office.

The content of the conversation between the Pope and the Lebanese president was not disclosed.

This visit comes at a time of extreme tension in the Middle East following Israeli strikes against Iran's nuclear program and Iranian retaliation. Hezbollah, a Shiite movement allied with Iran and highly influential in Lebanon, denounced the strikes as “threatening to inflame the entire region.”

Nevertheless, Hezbollah itself does not intend to launch attacks on Israel, one of its leaders told Reuters.

The movement emerged greatly weakened from the war it fought against Israel between October 8, 2023 — the day after Hamas' offensive against the Jewish state — and November 27, 2024. Between 500 and 4,000 Hezbollah members were killed, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The fighting also claimed the lives of more than 4,000 Lebanese civilians and displaced more than a million people in the south of the country. Despite a ceasefire, sporadic armed clashes have continued since the fall of 2024.

President Joseph Aoun was elected president of Lebanon on January 9, 2025, after a long period of presidential vacancy. The parties involved had been unable to agree on a successor to Michel Aoun — no relation to the current president — whose term expired on October 31, 2022. 

According to the principle of sectarian distribution of various positions in the Lebanese state, the president of the republic must be a Maronite Christian, and therefore a Catholic.

During their previous meeting on May 18 at St. Peter's Basilica, President Joseph Aoun extended an invitation to the new pope to visit Lebanon.

John Paul II visited in 1997 and Benedict XVI made his last apostolic journey there in 2012. However, Pope Francis, whose visit had been announced for June 2022 but did not materialize, never visited the Land of the Cedars.

The Vatican has not yet commented on a future papal visit, but the good reputation of the new president, a former army chief of staff and considered a figure of authority and consensus, could open up an opportunity. The restoration of the position of head of state is an essential protocol and practical element in preparing for a papal visit.

As a sign of the Holy See's attention to Lebanon, Cardinal Parolin spoke with Joseph Aoun by telephone four days after his election to congratulate him.

Cardinal Bechara Raï, Patriarch of the Maronite Church, fractured his hip when he tripped over his cassock during Easter Mass on April 20. He was hospitalized after insisting on continuing the liturgy, despite the suggestion made by President Joseph Aoun himself, who was present, to interrupt it.

The Lebanese cardinal was therefore unable to travel to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, nor for the general congregations or the installation Mass of Leo XIV. Aged 85, he is no longer a cardinal elector in the event of a conclave.

The cardinal did recently speak to Aid to the Church in Need about the situation in Lebanon. See that article below: "Why Catholics have to help."