“For the Lebanese, this visit by the pope is a great sign of hope and peace,” explains Marlène Hélou, former deputy director of a Catholic school in the Beirut metropolitan area, a few days before the pontiff's arrival.
The entire country is mobilizing to honor the Pope's arrival. His portrait has replaced those of political leaders on large billboards along the roads, which have been repaired for the occasion with unusual efficiency. “We’d need two or three more visits from the pope to get all our roads paved,” remark residents of the Lebanese capital, with a certain sense of self-deprecation.
More fundamentally, the arrival of Pope Leo XIV is a sign of hope after years of darkness. With the financial and monetary collapse; the explosion at the port of Beirut that devastated the Lebanese capital in 2020; the paralysis of the administration and political institutions during more than two years of presidential vacancy between October 2022 and January 2025; the war in Syria, which has been dragging on for nearly 15 years; and the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which resumed in 2023, calamities have accumulated and the people of Lebanon see their country facing an existential threat. “The pope is coming to give us extreme unction before we die,” some say ironically, with humor mixed with discouragement.
“People are afraid,” acknowledges Marlène Hélou. She herself has been severely affected by the economic and medical difficulties linked to the collapse of institutions. She was also distressed by the Israeli strikes that shook Beirut again last Sunday, when the Israeli air force struck the Lebanese capital to eliminate a Hezbollah military leader.
Despite the ceasefire that has been in effect for a year, a state of war persists and causes great stress among the population. “We constantly hear the buzzing of drones above us. It's exhausting,” she explains.
The hope of resurrection
But, just as in the Apostles’ Creed, Christ “descended into hell” and “on the third day he rose again from the dead,” the Lebanese haven’t lost hope in the resurrection of their people. They’ve always shown an infinite capacity to see the light at the end of the tunnel. “We’re a people full of divisions, but we also know how to come together, because the Lebanese love God,” says a Lebanese woman born in 1975, at the beginning of the civil war.
Devotion to the Virgin Mary unites the Lebanese, including Muslims, who willingly join in Marian celebrations. Since 2010, the Annunciation, on March 25, has been celebrated as a national holiday to mark the conviviality between Christians and Muslims.
The figure of St. Charbel (1818-1898) has also become a very important point of reference for the Lebanese population, with numerous miracles associated with this 19th-century monk. “Pope Leo XIV will be the first pope to visit his tomb, and this is a very important sign for the entire Lebanese population,” explains Marlène Hélou.
Resilience and hope
Lebanese resilience was particularly evident in the hours following the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. While certainly devastating—235 dead and 6,500 injured—it could’ve been much worse without the tremendous outpouring of solidarity that arose among the Lebanese people. Some of the seriously injured, rescued at the last minute and taken to hospitals by unknown hands, said they felt as if they had been “carried by angels.”
It is this Lebanon — deeply religious and resilient — that the Pope will visit in a few days, following in the footsteps of Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, and three years after Pope Francis' canceled visit caused great disappointment among the population. In a world in 2025 marked by the weakening of international law, Melhem Khalaf, a member of the Lebanese Parliament and a lawyer of the Orthodox faith, believes that “the only one who can provide a compass, a reference point, today is the Pope.”
“The Lebanese need hope, especially in the face of the exodus of young people, which is an alarming phenomenon,” says Melhem Khalaf. He has been deeply involved with young people since the civil war in the 1980s. In particular, he has participated in the creation of the “Offrejoie” association, which aims to rebuild civil peace by involving youth of various religious confessions in works of solidarity.
He hopes that the pontiff will be able to strengthen Lebanon “in its specific vocation of unity in diversity, at a time when political leaders have gradually distorted this message through their erratic behavior,” he says with irritation.
Political discontent
The population is indeed angry with its leaders. A message posted in Arabic by Hassan Ahmad Khalil, a Lebanese man of Muslim culture but detached from religious institutions, has been widely circulated on social media. “Your Holiness, I implore you to focus solely on the people. On the poor, the needy, the sick, the orphans, and the victims of crimes committed by some of those in the first row,” he points out angrily. “In the back row, you may find a few pious, pure, and fervent believers, people of integrity who truly worship Christ and God not out of fear, not out of terror, but out of love, for God is love,” he wrote in his poignant message.
In any case, it’s with profound hope that Lebanese people of all faiths await the Pope's arrival, without worrying about his safety. Marlène Hélou is certain that wherever the Pope chooses to go in Lebanon, “the Virgin Mary will protect him.”
