Vatican City, Apr 22, 2021 / 08:00 am
Pope Francis met the prime minister-designate of Lebanon in a private meeting at the Vatican on Thursday.
Pope Francis told Saad Hariri that he is close to the Lebanese people as they live “a time of great difficulty and uncertainty,” according to a message from Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office.
During the encounter April 22, which lasted around half an hour, Pope Francis again expressed his desire to visit Lebanon as soon as conditions allow.
According to Bruni, Pope Francis said he hoped that “Lebanon, with the help of the international community, will once again embody ‘the strength of the cedars, the diversity which from weakness becomes strength in the great reconciled people,’ with its vocation to be a land of encounter, coexistence, and pluralism.”