A wave of Lebanese youth flooded the square in front of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch to welcome Pope Leo to Beirut.
The Pope received the welcome warmly and responded with a powerful and inspiring message.
POPE LEO XIV
Dear young people, perhaps you regret having inherited a world torn apart by wars and disfigured by social injustices. And yet, within you lies a hope, a gift, that seems to slip away from us adults. You have time. You have more time to dream, to organize, and to do good. You are the present, and in your hands the future is already being built!
Representing the future of the country, Pope Leo invited the young people of Lebanon to work in a spirit of justice and peace, and to bring a new and necessary breathe of life into the country.
POPE LEO XIV
With a generous commitment to justice, work together to build a future of peace and development. Be the lifeblood of hope that the country is waiting for!
The Pope called for young people to firmly reject narcissism and selfishness, an essential stepping stone to creating fruitful relationships.
POPE LEO XIV
If at the center of a relationship of friendship or love is our self, that relationship cannot be fruitful. In the same way, one does not truly love if one loves with an expiration date, only as long as a feeling lasts. A love with a deadline is a mediocre love.
In a powerful moment, Pope Leo led the audience in a “pledge of peace and action of the young people,” to address each of those “hearts of faith” who came to the Beirut square to show their love for the American Pope.
