HARISSA, Lebanon (CNS) -- At a shrine topped by a 28-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV listened to stories of unshakable faith amid war, injustice and suffering.

The pope began Dec. 1 at the tomb of St. Charbel at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, a place known for its atmosphere of silent prayer, especially in difficult moments.

Despite intermittent rain, thousands of people gathered along the road leading to the monastery, tossing rose petals or rice as a sign of welcome.

After entrusting the Catholics of Lebanon and the entire country to St. Charbel's care, Pope Leo went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa and listened, like St. Charbel often did, to the cries of people's hearts. 

Father Youhanna-Fouad Fahed, a married Maronite Catholic priest and pastor of a parish near the Syrian border, spoke first. His village welcomed Syrian refugees from the war that began in 2011 and was repeatedly struck by shelling from the Syrian side of the border. In December 2024, when the Syrian civil war officially ended, more refugees came.

"The collection bag during Sunday Mass revealed to me a first, silent cry: I noticed Syrian currency inside: It was an offering mingled with pain," Father Fahed told the pope.

"Alone, feeling my people's suffering smothered by fear, the misery concealed by the shame of asking for help, I went in search of them," the priest said. Some told him they had fled to protect their daughters from forced marriage, and many arrived in Lebanon hoping to eventually migrate to Europe, even if that meant "entrusting their dreams to migrant smugglers who stole their savings."

All Father Fahed asked of Pope Leo was a word of comfort so the people would not feel forgotten and alone.

Sister Dima Chebib is a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and director of a school in Baalbeck, which is considered by many to be a stronghold of the Hezbollah militia and has been struck repeatedly by Israeli shelling in the past year.

 

While many people fled the town, she said, the priests and religious of the Melkite Catholic diocese "decided to stay and welcome the refugee families -- Christian and Muslim -- who came seeking safety and peace. We shared bread, fear and hope. We lived together, prayed together and supported one another in fraternity and trust."

"In the heart of war," she told the pope, "I discovered the peace of Christ. And I give thanks to God for this grace of remaining, loving and serving to the end."

Loren Capobres, who came to Lebanon from the Philippines as a domestic worker and now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, described the people she helps as "people who had left everything behind -- broken not just by war, but by betrayal and abandonment."

Vincentian Father Charbel Fayad, a prison chaplain, told the pope of the repentance and conversion of prisoners who are amazed anyone cares enough to minister to them.

"Even in the darkness of the cells, the light of Christ never goes out," Father Fayad said.

Pope Leo responded to the testimonies by saying that just as for St. Charbel in the 19th century, so today "it is in being with Mary at the foot of Jesus' cross that our prayer -- that invisible bridge which unites hearts -- gives us the strength to continue to hope and work, even when surrounded by the sound of weapons and when the very necessities of daily life become a challenge."

Father Toni Elias, the Maronite pastor of Rmaych, near the Israeli border, did not speak to the pope, but told reporters, "We have basically been living in war for the past two, two and a half years but never without hope."

The visit of the pope, he said, is confirmation for believers that "what we have lived" -- the fear and the hope combined -- "has not been in vain."

Pope Leo's speech to government and civic leaders Nov. 30 had focused on the Lebanese people and did not mention Israel at all. But Father Elias said that was "beautiful" because peace and harmony among Muslims, Christians and Druze "are our roots, our culture. That is Lebanon."

Meeting the country's bishops, priests, religious and pastoral workers -- a crowd of about 2,000 people -- Pope Leo told them, "If we wish to build peace, we must anchor ourselves to heaven and, firmly set in that direction."

"Let us love without being afraid of losing those things which pass away and let us give without measure," the pope said. "From these roots, strong and deep like those of cedars, love grows and with God's help, concrete and lasting works of solidarity come to life."

Pope Leo was scheduled to end his morning with a private meeting with Catholic patriarchs from throughout the Middle East.
 

First Sunday of Advent Advent is the season of hope.  Advent is also about being aware.  Advent is the time to walk in the Light of the Lord. * Nugget from Fr. Maher

ISTANBUL (CNS) -- As he had done throughout his visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV spent his last morning in the country reaffirming the Catholic Church's commitment to the search for Christian unity.

The key symbol of that was the pope's presence at the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew, patron of the patriarchate.

For decades the popes and patriarchs have sent delegations to each other's patronal feast celebrations -- the Vatican's celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29 and the patriarchate's celebration of St. Andrew's feast Nov. 30.

St. Peter and St. Andrew were brothers and were the first of the 12 Apostles to be called by Jesus.

After the liturgy, the pope and patriarch went to a balcony where they jointly blessed the people gathered below. 

Patriarch Bartholomew had been present at most of the events on Pope Leo's itinerary in Turkey, including the meeting in Ankara Nov. 27 with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and government and civic officials. The patriarch hosted the commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea Nov. 28, and he attended Pope Leo's Mass for the country's Catholic communities Nov. 29.

At the liturgy Nov. 30 in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George, Pope Leo spoke about how for 60 years Catholics and Orthodox have followed "a path of reconciliation, peace and growing communion." 

The increasingly cordial relations have been "fostered through frequent contact, fraternal meetings and promising theological dialogue," he said. "And today we are called even more to commit ourselves to the restoration of full communion."

Especially important work has been done by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the pope said, but he noted that tensions among the Orthodox churches have led some of them to suspend their participation.

The commission's last plenary session was held in Egypt in 2023; the most noticeable absence was that of the Russian Orthodox Church, which broke relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018 when the patriarch recognized the autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Pope Leo used his greeting at the Divine Liturgy to confirm that, "in continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and my predecessors," the pursuit of full communion among Christians "is one of the priorities of the Catholic Church. In particular, it is one of the priorities of my ministry as Bishop of Rome, whose specific role in the universal Church is to be at the service of all, building and safeguarding communion and unity."

In his homily at the liturgy, Patriarch Bartholomew restated the Orthodox commitment to unity and called for common Christian efforts to protect the environment and to end wars.

"We cannot be complicit in the bloodshed taking place in Ukraine and other parts of the world and remain silent in the face of the exodus of Christians from the cradle of Christianity" in the Holy Land, the patriarch said. 

Pope Leo's day had begun with a visit to Archbishop Sahak II Mashalian, the Armenian Apostolic patriarch of Constantinople, at his cathedral in Istanbul.

The celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its statement of faith that formed the basis of the Nicene Creed, are an affirmation that "we must draw from this shared apostolic faith in order to recover the unity that existed in the early centuries between the Church of Rome and the ancient Oriental Churches," the pope said.

"We must also take inspiration from the experience of the early church in order to restore full communion," he said; the goal is "a communion which does not imply absorption or domination, but rather an exchange of the gifts received by our churches from the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father and the edification of the body of Christ."

While Pope Leo paid tribute to "the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances," he was not more explicit about the politically sensitive subject of what many call the "Armenian genocide," when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915-18.

Mardik Evadian, a local business owner who was present for the pope's visit, told reporters that for Armenians in Turkey "it is not important" that the pope use the word "genocide."

Armenians know what happened and remember their loved ones who were killed, he said, "but we are living in this country; maybe in old times there were pogroms, but now it is peacetime."
 

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ISTANBUL (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV, like his two immediate predecessors, visited the so-called Blue Mosque in Turkey's capital; he spent about 20 minutes inside but did not appear to pause for prayer as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had done.

Instead, he listened to Askin Musa Tunca, the mosque's muezzin who calls people to prayer five times a day, explain the building, its construction and how Muslims pray. And the pope asked questions. 

Tunca told reporters afterward that the mosque is "the house of Allah -- it's not my house; it's not your house," and so he told Pope Leo he could pray if he wanted. "'That's OK,' he said, he wanted to see the mosque."

Reporters pressed Tunca, asking again if the pope prayed. "Maybe to himself, I don't know," he responded.

The Vatican press office said afterward that Pope Leo visited the mosque "in a spirit of reflection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer."

As is customary, Pope Leo removed his shoes in the courtyard before entering the mosque in white socks. 

Formally called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Muslim house of prayer was complete in 1617 and is known as the Blue Mosque because of the more than 21,000 blue tiles that decorate its walls, arches and domes. The tiles come from Iznik, site of the ancient Nicaea, which Pope Leo had visited the day before.

Leaving the mosque, Pope Leo noted to Tunca that they were going through a doorway with a sign that said, "No exit." The muezzin replied that the sign was for tourists but, if the pope preferred, "you do not have to go out. You can stay here."

Pope Benedict XVI had visited the Blue Mosque in 2006, and Pope Francis toured it in 2015. Both had paused for a moment of silence facing the mihrab, which indicates the direction of the Islamic holy city of Mecca. St. John Paul II was the first pontiff to visit a mosque when he went to the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, Syria, in 2001. 

In late October Pope Leo had led Vatican celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council's document on relations with other world religions. The bishops at Vatican II said Catholics have esteem for their Muslim brothers and sisters, who "adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth," and "they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees."
 

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