Upwards of 150,000 people came together at Beirut’s waterfront Tuesday morning for mass with Pope Leo XIV.
AFP reports the pontiff arrived from Turkey on Sunday on the next step of his inaugural foreign visit as pope and brought a message of hope, particularly to young people in Lebanon.
A jubilant welcome was laid on for the pontiff at the site of the 2020 bomb blast.
Beirut is a nation beset by a years-long economic collapse and which is still reeling from a war last year between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist group.
According to the AFP report, he told the crowd during his homily that Lebanon, is “overshadowed by the many problems that afflict you, the fragile and often unstable political context, the dramatic economic crisis that weighs heavily upon you and the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”
Tens of thousands of people gathered at Beirut’s waterfront as Pope Leo XIV held mass in the morning of December 2, the highlight of the Catholic leader’s visit to the capital. (Giuseppe CACACE / AFP via Getty Images)
“Let us cast off the armour of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon. A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognise each other as brothers and sisters,” he said.
“Everyone must do their part, and we must unite our efforts so that this land can return to its former glory,” he said.
Crowds gather at Waterfront Square for an open-air mass led by Pope Leo XIV after he prayed for the victims of the 2020 port explosion at Beirut Port during his visit to the Lebanese capital in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 2, 2025. (Baris Seckin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A priest uses a mobile phone while waiting for Pope Leo XIV to arrive and deliver a mass at Beirut’s waterfront on December 2, 2025.(JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)
The outlet noted some worshippers travelled from abroad including from neighbouring Syria, or from further afield like the United States, while migrant workers from countries such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka were also among the excited Beirut crowd basking in the presence of the Catholic leader.
While the Christian population in Lebanon has decreased as a percentage due to lower birth rates and emigration, followers of Christ continue to be a large and influential part of society, with 11 confessions including Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholics playing a prominent part of daily religious life.
Lebanon’s Christian community remains the largest in the Muslim-majority Middle East.
