Pope Leo may visit Lebanon on first major trip, Catholic officials say

ROME – Pope Leo XIV is considering a visit to Lebanon, one of the top Catholic clerics there said Wednesday, on his first overseas trip as pontiff. It would be a highly symbolic visit for the first American pope, who has repeatedly called for peace in the Middle East and the peaceful coexistence between faiths.

Archbishop Paul Sayah, deputy to Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rai – the country’s top Catholic cleric – told The Washington Post on Wednesday that he is aware that “the Vatican is considering and studying a visit by Pope Leo to Lebanon.”

“The Patriarchy cannot release information about the visit until the Vatican announces the date and details of the visit,” Sayah said.

Sayah spoke to The Post after Rai told Al Arabiya television on Wednesday that preparations were “underway” for a visit by Leo that would occur by December. Rai told the outlet that the Vatican had yet to confirm a date. “There still needs to be a decision from the Vatican on when the visit will take place,” he said.

Since Leo became pope in May, speculation has raged over his first major trip, in part because such visits can set a tone for a new papacy. The first significant trip beyond the Rome area by his predecessor, Pope Francis, for instance, was to the Italian island of Lampedusa in July 2013 to highlight the plight of migrants – a subject that became a driving theme of his papacy until his death in April.

Leo has made sojourns beyond Rome, including a recent holiday at the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo, south of the city. But he has yet to venture far.

Vatican officials for weeks have operated on the assumption that he would fulfill his predecessor’s wish of traveling to Turkey later this year to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a major assembly of early Christian bishops. A Turkey trip is still in the works, a Vatican official said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details with the press; the official entertained the possibility that Leo might decide to visit both Muslim-majority nations.

Some Vatican watchers have also wondered whether Leo might consider a visit to Israel.

Leo has called for peace in the Middle East and an end to the war in Gaza in repeated appearances up to and including his general audience with the faithful on Wednesday.

He has also called for Christians, Jews and Muslims to peacefully coexist.

“Lebanon is the place closest to the terrible events in Gaza, and to the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Marco Politi, a Rome-based Vatican watcher. Going there would be “a way of highlighting the problem without directly engaging in a confrontation with the state of Israel.”

Shortly after becoming pope, Leo met with an interfaith delegation to Vatican City, praising the “Jewish roots of Christianity” and honoring the “growing commitment to dialogue and fraternity” between Catholics and Muslims.

“I am convinced that if we are in agreement, and free from ideological and political conditioning, we can be effective in saying ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace,” Leo said in May.

Sayah said Lebanon had a unique role as the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East. He also noted that President Joseph Aoun is Christian.

“Lebanon has the distinction of having a Christian president,” which, he said, reinforces the country’s spirit of coexistence, a “sentiment bolstered by the Pope’s visit,” he said.

Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI made papal visits to Lebanon, leaving indelible memories that still resonate with Lebanese Christians today. Francis was slated to visit Lebanon in 2022, but the trip never materialized, something local Catholic officials blamed on security challenges and the country’s power vacuum.

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Haidamous reported from Beirut. Mohamad El Chamaa in Beirut contributed to this report.