Tens of thousands greet Pope at site of huge Beirut blast

While Najwa said she had no illusion that Leo’s visit would help move forward the investigation into the blast and deliver some accountability, she still believes it will bring some hope.

“I appreciate his visit so much. It’s a holy visit,” she said.

From the stage by Beirut’s shimmering waterfront, the Pope, speaking in French, called on Lebanese people to “unite our efforts so that this land can return to its former glory.”

French is widely spoken in Lebanon, alongside Arabic, a testament to the country’s religious and ethnic diversity, as well as its colonial past.

“Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon,” he said in his homily.

Tuesday’s event ends the pontiff’s first international trip that took him to Turkey and Lebanon, both Muslim-majority countries and with different Christian denominations. The Pope’s main message was a call for unity and interfaith dialogue.