Vatican City, Oct 13, 2017 / 10:21 am
Pope Francis and the prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Rafic Hariri, discussed Friday the current situation in the Middle East and Lebanon, which has received a large number of refugees from Syria.
According to an Oct. 13 statement from the Vatican, the meeting took place "in an atmosphere of great cordiality," which enabled a productive discussion of various issues in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Among these, the two expressed hope for "increasingly fruitful collaboration between the various political powers" in support of the common good of the nation.
They also focused on the importance of the Christian presence in the Middle East and the "historic and institutional role of the Church in the life of the country."