Pope Francis intends to visit Lebanon “as soon as possible”

In his Christmas messages today (Thursday), Pope Francis promised to visit Lebanon and South Sudan as soon as possible.
The Pope often mentions countries in his message on Christmas Day, but he highlighted these two countries with messages on Christmas Eve because of the difficulties they faced this year.
Pointing to Lebanon, the Pope said: “I was deeply disturbed by the suffering and pain I saw, which weakened the resilience and ingenuity used in the land of cedars,” according to the Reuters news agency.
Lebanon is facing a serious economic crisis and the aftermath of the explosion in the port of Beirut on 4 August, which killed 200 people. The Pope expressed “my love for the dear Lebanese people, whom I hope to visit as soon as possible.”
He added that he hopes Lebanon can “stay away from regional conflicts and tensions.” The Pope will visit Iraq from March 5-8. In a separate letter drafted in association with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglican community worldwide and director of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Martin Faire, the three pledged to undertake a previously delayed journey. to a predominantly Christian South Sudan “when things get back to normal.” The three sent their message to the leaders of southern Sudan, who put aside their previous differences and formed a government of national unity in February after years of civil war wreaked havoc in the poor country.
A United Nations report released this month said implementation of various aspects of the peace agreement had stalled in southern Sudan, caused by floods that displaced hundreds of thousands of people last September.