Although Pope Leo carried a message of peace, prayer, and hope to the Lebanese people, the political message he insisted on sending from Beirut or after his departure cannot be ignored, linking peace to the efforts the Vatican will exert to achieve this peace on the ground, in response to Lebanon’s request, government and people, to protect the country’s security and stability.
Former MP Dr. Fares Saeed believes that after Pope Leo XIV’s departure from Lebanon, it will be difficult for the political class, official and unofficial, to ignore the issue of peace in Lebanon and the region.
Dr. Saeed explains that Pope Leo XIV entrusted the Lebanese with the mission of peace, at a very sensitive political moment, with talk of direct and indirect negotiations with Israel, and the rearrangement of the region anew, all after the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, where a billion Muslims, including 450 million Arabs, announced their withdrawal from the military conflict with Israel.
According to Saeed, the Pope’s speech about peace from Lebanon coincides with Syria’s transition to a new phase, where President Ahmed al-Shara is looking at security arrangements to solve security problems with Israel.
Therefore, Saeed confirms that the issue of peace is a cultural, social, and political issue, which must be transformed after the Pope’s visit into a political issue borne by the Lebanese state with all its constitutional institutions.
Saeed emphasizes Pope Leo’s saying from Lebanon, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” explaining that the basis is “that Lebanon does not put itself in a waiting phase for a peace that comes from abroad and in which Lebanon is defeated, so it is imposed on the Lebanese and then they adapt to it.”
In response to a question about the effectiveness of “Vatican diplomacy” in helping Lebanon, Saeed says that Pope Leo XIV is primarily American, and therefore, “he would not have visited Lebanon and we would not have witnessed this calm in Lebanon and the region had the Pope not previously done everything necessary, that is, he made the necessary arrangements to secure the sky, the land, and the region.”
