Lebanon

Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest Father Pierre al-Rahi was commemorated by Pope Leo XIV ahead of the cleric's funeral.

A Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest has been killed in southern Lebanon when an Israeli artillery tank fired on a house March 9, Catholic officials and media said -- reports that have since been confirmed by OSV News.

The Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement in which they called "for an immediate halt to the spiral of violence" currently taking place in the Middle East.

As the scourge of war spreads across the Middle East, including Lebanon, the ones paying the ultimate price are the innocent men, women and children who want to live in peace, said Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Georges Iskandar of Tyre.

Pope Leo XIV ended his stay in Lebanon with what he termed "a heartfelt appeal: may the attacks and hostilities cease."

At a shrine topped by a 28-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV listened to stories of unshakable faith amid war, injustice and suffering.

Acknowledging the existence of "circumstances that are highly complex, conflictual and uncertain," Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lebanon preaching peace.

While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome's Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope's ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.

One out of four people living in Lebanon is a refugee, and the majority of children born in refugee camps are unregistered at birth, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The election of Joseph Aoun, a Maronite (Eastern-rite Catholic), as the 14th president of Lebanon and a fragile ceasefire have raised hopes that the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country will finally reverse its steep descent into chaos.