Thousands of jubilant young Lebanese people have welcomed Pope Leo XIV at his final event of the day on his visit to Lebanon.

Young people waited for hours on Monday for Leo to arrive at the picturesque seat of the Maronite Catholic church in Bkerki.

They cheered wildly when he arrived and looped around the hilltop piazza of the patriarchate in an open golf cart.

The event though recalled some of Lebanon’s tragedies: Young people presented Leo with pieces of charred wood from a house destroyed in the the 2020 Beirut blast, and a stone from a church that was destroyed in the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The pope addressed the young people gathered to hear his words, saying that they represent hope.

"Dear young people, perhaps you regret inheriting a world torn apart by wars and disfigured by social injustice. Yet there is hope and there is hope within you," he said.

"You have the enthusiasm to change the course of history."

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 Christians 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.