Pope Leo XIV arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkey that began last week. He challenged Lebanon’s political leaders to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside as he sought to give the country’s long-suffering people a message of hope and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.

Earlier in the day, Leo visited holy sites in Lebanon that draw Christian and Muslims, seeking to recognize the importance of the country’s religious pluralism and to send a message to Christians not to abandon the region.

Leo arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkey that began on Nov. 27.

A Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, Lebanon always has been a priority for the Vatican as a bulwark for Christians throughout the

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