Pope Francis has promised that his next foreign trip will be to crisis-hit Lebanon, shortly after he wrapped up a historic visit to Iraq.
“Lebanon is a message… Lebanon is suffering,” the pontiff added in an in-flight press conference, vowing to visit the country as soon as possible.
How It Started // How It's Going ?
— EWTN News (@EWTNews) March 7, 2021
Fr. Thabet Habeb sees the image of the Virgin Mary destroyed by ISIS for the first time in his parish in Karemlesh.
?Archdiocese of Erbil
Pope Francis blessed the restored image in Erbil.
?Vatican Media#PopeFrancisInIraq #PopeinIraq pic.twitter.com/Aez4nVyT2R
“Lebanon has some weakness resulting from diversity… but it has the strength of the people… who are as strong as the cedars,” the pope went on to say.
He added that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi had asked him to add a Beirut leg onto his Iraq trip but that he had declined, thinking it would be like tossing the country "crumbs," given all Lebanon's current problems.
Pope Francis’s historic visit to Iraq https://t.co/2YbD72lx7b — in pictures pic.twitter.com/h6XxpPgxc2
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 7, 2021
"But I wrote him a letter and promised I'd go to Lebanon. Today Lebanon is in a crisis, an existential crisis, and my next trip will be to Lebanon," the pope went on to say.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
