Pope Leo XIV challenged Lebanon’s political leaders on Sunday to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside, as he sought to give Lebanon’s long-suffering people a message of hope and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.

Leo arrived in Beirut from Istanbul on the second leg of his maiden voyage as pope.

He came to encourage the Lebanese people to persevere at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country as it faces economic uncertainty, deep political divisions and fears of a new war with Israel following years of crises.

Leo is fulfilling a promise of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit Lebanon for years but was unable to because of its crises and as his health worsened.

Lebanon’s political system, based on sectarian power-sharing, has been prone to deadlock with lengthy power vacuums and regular stalemates over controversial issues, including the investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Most recently, the country has been deeply split over calls for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party, to disarm after fighting a war with Israel last year that left the country deeply damaged.

Leo didn’t directly reference the recent war or the debate over weapons in his speech at the presidential palace. But he acknowledged the hardships the Lebanese people have endured.

“You have suffered greatly from the consequences of an economy that kills, from global instability that has devastating repercussions also in the Levant, and from the radicalization of identities and conflicts,” Leo said. “But you have always wanted, and known how, to start again.”

He told Lebanese leaders to seek the truth and engage in a process of reconciliation with “those who have suffered wrongs and injustice” if they truly want to be considered peacemakers.

A culture of reconciliation, he said, must come from the top with leaders willing to put their personal interests aside and “recognize the common good as superior to the particular.”

The highlight of Leo’s Lebanese visit will come on Tuesday, his last day, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the August 4, 2020, port blast and meets with some of its victims.

AP video shot by Ali Sharafeddine