BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Pope Leo XIV has opted for war-torn, crisis-ridden Lebanon as part of his first official trip abroad, aiming to call for unity and to help preserve the tiny Arab country -- home to the region's largest Christian population -- while also delivering a message of peace to a conflict-ridden Middle East.
Leo, elected last May as the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church, is scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Sunday for the second leg of his Apostolic Journey, which will first take him to Turkey to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea.
His packed schedule in Lebanon includes meetings with the country's top officials and Catholic Patriarchs and visits to the Monastery of Saint Maroun and the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon.
He also has scheduled an ecumenical and interreligious gathering, a meeting with some 12,000 young people, a moment of silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion and the celebration of holy mass.
Monseigneur Michel Aoun, the official ecclesiastical coordinator for Leo's visit to Lebanon, said the pope chose this particular moment to express support for the Lebanese people and offer them hope amid "critical conditions."
