President Aoun welcomes Pope Leo XIV, highlights Lebanon’s faith, freedom, and national balance

President Joseph Aoun welcomed Pope Leo XIV upon his arrival at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, delivering a speech that underscored Lebanon’s spiritual, historical, and cultural significance.

Aoun began by telling the pontiff: “I welcome you to this country, small in size yet great in its message — Lebanon, which has always been a land that brings together faith and freedom, difference and unity, pain and hope.”

The president emphasized that the Pope was not visiting an ordinary country but “a land marked by the footsteps of sacred history. Lebanon has been mentioned many times in the Holy Scriptures as a symbol of elevation, steadfastness, and holiness.”

Highlighting Lebanon’s unique spiritual heritage, Aoun continued: “Lebanon is not merely a historic land but the homeland of great saints, among them Saint Charbel. This is the Lebanon that welcomes you today, Your Holiness — a Lebanon that was formed because of freedom and for its sake, not for the sake of any single religion, sect, or group.”

Addressing Lebanon’s delicate sectarian balance, the president warned that the country’s stability is vital to the region: “If the Christian disappears from Lebanon, the equation of the nation collapses and its justice falls. If the Muslim disappears, the balance of the nation is disturbed and its moderation fades. If Lebanon is disrupted or altered, the alternative will inevitably be new fault lines in our region and the world — between all forms of extremism, intellectual, material, and even violent.”

Aoun concluded with an emotional appeal regarding the suffering present across Lebanon and the region: “In our land today, and throughout our region, there is much oppression and many who are wounded. Their wounds await your blessed touch and look forward to hearing — and making heard — your great and courageous voice.”