Vatican City, Mar 21, 2022 / 13:34 pm
Pope Francis received Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun at the Vatican on Monday as the Middle Eastern country continues to reel from multiple crises.
Aoun, a Maronite Catholic, also met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and “foreign minister” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See press office said on March 21.
In recent years, Lebanon has grappled with an influx of refugees from the war in Syria, a devastating financial crisis, a lack of stable governance, and the impact of COVID-19.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also threatening to trigger a food crisis in Lebanon, which depends on wheat imports from the East European nation.