Pope prays at Beirut port blast site on last day of Lebanon visit

Pope Leo XIV led a silent prayer at the site of the Beirut port explosion and demanded justice for its victims, as he wrapped up his three-day visit to Lebanon.

He also met some relatives of the 218 people who were killed by the massive blast on 4 August 2020, which devastated a large part of the capital.

Later, the Pope said he was "deeply moved" by his visit to the port and shared "the thirst for truth and justice, of so many families, of an entire country".

No-one has yet been held accountable for the disaster, which happened when a fire triggered the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored unsafely at a port warehouse for almost six years.

It is widely believed that officials and politicians were aware of the combustible chemical's existence and the danger it posed but that they failed to secure, remove or destroy it.

Victims' relatives and activists say the domestic investigation into the disaster has been hampered by the political leadership's efforts to shield those responsible from scrutiny.

Cecile Roukoz, whose brother Joseph was killed, said the Pope's visit to the memorial was "very important". "We know that he raises his voice for justice, and we need justice for our brothers and all the victims of this explosion," she added.

Tatiana Hasrouty, who lost her father Ghassan in the blast, said: "He's trying to help us find the truth in some sort of way, in his way, maybe in praying and maybe in just looking at us... We, the families, now, after five years, we need people to look at us."

After praying at the blast site, the Pope celebrated the final Mass of his trip in front of an estimated 150,000 people gathered on Beirut's waterfront.

Addressing the crowd, he lamented that the beauty of Lebanon had been "overshadowed by poverty and suffering, the wounds that have marked your history".

But he appealed to the country's diverse communities to unite to solve its problems.

"Let us cast off the armour of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon," he said. "A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognise each other as brothers and sisters."

Since the last papal visit in 2012, the small country has been plagued by multiple crises.

In 2019, the country suffered one of the worst economic depressions recorded in modern times, which pushed millions into poverty.

It was followed by mass anti-government protests, the coronavirus pandemic, and then the Beirut port explosion.

Political paralysis prevented the country from passing the economic and structural reforms demanded by foreign donors in return for billions of dollars in aid.

Lebanon was later devastated by the 13-month war between the Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement and Israel, which killed 4,000 Lebanese and 120 Israelis.

A ceasefire ended the conflict a year ago, but Israel has continued to attack targets it says are linked to Hezbollah, accusing the Iran-backed group of trying to rearm.