Pope Francis on Thursday urged the leaders of Lebanon, which is mired in a financial depression and facing its worst social crisis in 30 years, to put aside partisan interests and work for peace and stability.
Francis made the appeal at the end of a day-long summit with Lebanese Christian leaders in the Vatican to discuss how religions can help the country get back on its feet.
He also repeated his wish to visit Lebanon, which is still reeling from a huge chemical explosion at the Beirut port last year that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
“I would reiterate how essential it is that those in power choose finally and decisively to work for true peace and not for their own interests,” Pope Francis said.
“Let there be an end to the few profiting from the sufferings of many! No more letting half-truths continue to frustrate people’s aspirations,” he said during a closing prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica, much of it conducted in Arabic.
Lebanon is battling a deep financial crisis, which the World Bank has called one of the worst depressions of modern history. It has pushed more than half the population into poverty and the currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value in about two years.
The pope said Lebanese were “disillusioned and weary...in need of certainty, hope and peace”
Prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, a Muslim, has been at loggerheads for months with President Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, over cabinet positions.
In his closing address, Francis also said Lebanon and the Middle East should not be used “for outside interests and profits".
Iranian influence has been on the rise in Lebanon over the past years through Hezbollah, the armed Shiite group whose political power has grown.
Papal visits to the Middle East — in pictures
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Pope Benedict XVI visits Bkerke, Lebanon in September 2012. AFP -
Pope Benedict XVI meets Muslim clerics while visiting Michel Suleiman, Lebanon's president at the time, at the Baabda presidential palace in September 2012. AFP -
Lebanese Catholics cheer as Pope Benedict XVI arrives at the Maronite Christian heartland of Bkerke in 2012. AFP -
A large crowd attends a Mass held by Pope Benedict XVI in the Lebanese capital Beirut in September 2012. AFP -
Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd as he arrives to lead an open-air Mass at Beirut's waterfront on the final day of his visit to Lebanon in 2012. AFP -
Wafaa, wife of Michel Suleiman, Lebanon's president at the time, receives communion from Pope Benedict XVI during the Mass in Beirut. AFP -
Michel Suleiman, Lebanon's president at the time, meets Pope Benedict XVI before he departs Beirut. AFP -
Pope Benedict XVI holds an open-air Mass in Beirut on the final day of his 2012 visit to Lebanon. AFP -
Jordan's King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania give Pope Francis a tour of the Royal Palace in Amman in 2014. AFP -
King Abdullah II of Jordan and Pope Francis visit Bethany, a site on the eastern bank of the River Jordan where some Christians believe Jesus was baptised. AFP -
Pope Francis visits Bethany in 2014. Some Christians believe it was the site where Jesus was baptised. AFP -
King Abdullah II of Jordan, Queen Rania, Crown Prince Hussein, the king's religious affairs adviser, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, and Pope Francis visit Bethany in 2014. AFP -
King Abdullah II of Jordan, Queen Rania, Crown Prince Hussein, religious affairs adviser Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad and Pope Francis at the site on the eastern bank of the River Jordan where some Christians believe Jesus was baptised. AFP -
Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Mass at the Amman Stadium in 2014. AFP -
Pope Francis greets the crowd at the Amman Stadium, where he held a Mass in 2014. AFP -
Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he leaves the stadium after holding a Mass during his 2014 trip to Jordan. AFP -
Pope Francis kisses a baby before holding a Mass in Amman in 2014. AFP -
Pope Francis hugs a boy before holding a Mass at the Amman stadium during a visit to Jordan in 2014. AFP
Pope Francis has said he hopes to visit Lebanon once a government is formed.
President Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, followed the opening prayer meeting through a closed-circuit TV, his office said. He said in a tweet that the whole world was participating with the pope in prayer for Lebanon.
“Our prayers together is that, as Christians and Muslims, we strengthen the values of truth and justice, balance and mutual respect that reinforces our national unity so that we restore to our nation its unique message of coexistence in the region and the world,” he tweeted.
