Martyrs’ Square became the symbolic backdrop for interfaith solidarity amid the country’s political paralysis.
Pope Leo has called for “coexistence” during the second day of his visit to Lebanon, gathering clerics from across the religious spectrum on both sides of a former civil war dividing line, and appealing for unity in a region fractured by violence.
Standing in Martyrs’ Square on Monday, a site that once marked the “green line” dividing Muslim west and Christian east Beirut during the 1975–90 civil war, Leo said Lebanon showed that “fear, distrust and prejudice do not have the final word”.
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“In an age when coexistence can seem like a distant dream, the people of Lebanon, while embracing different religions, stand as a powerful reminder that … unity, reconciliation, and peace are possible,” he said.
“May every bell toll; every adhan, every call to prayer blend into a single, soaring hymn,” he added, using the Arabic term for the Muslim call to prayer.
Martyrs’ Square – home to a monument honouring those who died for Lebanon’s independence, and later a focal point of mass protests demanding political change – has long symbolised the country’s struggle to overcome sectarianism.
media’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said the location showed the contrast between the image of interfaith unity amid Lebanon’s entrenched politics.
“Religious leaders coming together under one tent look like they are speaking with one voice, but the reality is, this is a deeply divided country,” she said.
‘Viva il Papa’
Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of his first overseas trip as pope, which also included a stop in Turkiye. He met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of state, and addressed diplomats and officials at the presidential palace.
Earlier on Monday, the US pontiff visited the tomb of St Charbel, a Catholic saint revered across the region, before travelling to Harissa, a hillside shrine overlooking the Mediterranean. Crowds shouted “Viva il Papa” as he arrived under the towering statue of the Virgin Mary.
About 15,000 young people later gathered outside the Maronite Catholic headquarters to hear the 70-year-old pontiff speak.
“There is hope within you, a gift that we adults seem to have lost,” he told them. “You have more time to dream, to plan and to do good.”
Lebanon is home to one of the Middle East’s largest Christian communities, roughly 30 percent of the population, alongside Muslims, including Shia and Sunni communities, as well as Alawite and Druze minorities. Representatives of all major sects attended Monday’s interfaith gathering, including leaders from communities that have faced violence in neighbouring Syria.
Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, deputy head of the Supreme Shia Islamic Council, thanked the pope for visiting, but warned the country still bore deep wounds “as a result of Israel’s continued attacks”, local media reported.
Israeli escalation looms over visit
As the pope delivered his message of unity, the country remains entangled in a broader regional conflict. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on October 8, 2023, describing the attacks as an act of solidarity after Israel launched a genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza the previous day.
The Lebanese armed group was later severely weakened after Israel’s major escalation in the country in September 2024.
Since a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah has responded to Israeli attacks only once. Israel, however, has continued cross-border strikes that have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, including about 127 civilians, according to the United Nations.
media’s Khodr said Leo avoided direct comment on the fighting, though he had previously called for dialogue.
“Many people believe the pope’s presence is the only deterrent in the face of Israeli threats … and that once he leaves, the shadow of war will change and there could be a different reality,” she said.
“There’s a lot of concern of renewed conflict and that Israel will escalate its attacks.”
Lebanon’s political paralysis and economic collapse have also weighed heavily on the visit. Decades of state mismanagement spiralled into a financial meltdown in late 2019, plunging millions into poverty.
The country also continues to host about one million Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
On Tuesday, Leo will visit the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, before leading a mass on the city’s historic waterfront.
