Beirut, Dec 1 (EFE).- Among the thousands of Lebanese who took to the streets on Sunday to welcome Pope Leo XIV with Vatican and Lebanese flags, many hope his visit will translate into an end to violence in the country and help open a new era of peace.
His visit takes place under the official motto 'Blessed are the peacemakers' and comes just three days after the anniversary of a ceasefire with Israel, amid continued attacks on Lebanon and mentions of the issue among participants.
"It means a lot to us because we are going through a hard time, it means that the East, first of all, does not feel excluded and knows that God is with us," said Randa Qossayir, 45, one of over a hundred people selected to represent their parishes during the welcome ceremony for the pontiff at Beirut International Airport, where he arrived in the early afternoon from Turkey for the second leg of his international debut.
"He is the representation of Jesus on earth and we hope he brings us peace," she told EFE.
"To be honest, we have had enough wars. From the moment we are born until we die we are living in war and under psychological stress, it is time for us to rest," Qossayir added.
For her, having the opportunity to be in the presence of the Holy Father was a particularly strengthening moment, as she has been battling cancer and has had a "very difficult" time.
"I feel the strength being here, especially when he came in front of us and blessed us, we felt like we were flying," the believer recounted.
The Pope was received at the foot of his plane by an official delegation led by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and greeted with a 21-gun salute, before passing through the tent erected on the tarmac to host the Republican Guard and the public chosen for the occasion.
Among them was also Jane Haswani, 35, who was selected as part of the Association of Guides of Lebanon.
According to her comments to EFE, her organization is the one in charge of the on-the-ground arrangements for the meeting with young people that will take place this Monday in the square of the Maronite Patriarchate seat in Bkerke, north of Beirut, and for the mass gathering scheduled for the following day.
"As young people in Lebanon and young people who are active in the Church, we are happy to have the head of the Church here and for him to witness the work that young people do in the heart of Lebanon," Haswani applauded.
While only this small group was allowed inside the airfield, several thousand more Lebanese gathered on the roads leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda to greet the pontiff on his way to a series of meetings with the country's political leaders.
On the stretch of the journey that crossed the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahye, hundreds of children from the Imam Mahdi Scouts, an association affiliated with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which had the day before denounced Israel's violence in an open letter to the Pope, were waiting for him.
