Pope Leo XIV in Lebanon: Passed through Hezbollah strongholds...

The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, arrived in Lebanon today to deliver a message of peace to the country suffering from an endemic economic and political crisis and emerging from a deadly war with Israel.

He was welcomed at Beirut airport by Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun, the only Christian head of state in the Arab world.

Lebanese army artillery fired 21 honorary cannon volleys, and ships anchored in Beirut harbor sounded sirens in celebration.

The pope's visit, which lasts 48 hours, is his first to this multi-confessional country with a population of 5,8 million.

Despite the significant political role that Christians play in Lebanon, their numbers have declined in recent decades, largely due to the emigration of young people.

Leo XIV, the first pope to be in Lebanon since 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI was there, met with authorities and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace tonight.

On the way there, he passed through the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, against which Israel is at war, decorated with posters greeting the Pope, as well as posters with portraits of the Hezbollah leader who was recently killed by Israel.

In the ranks of citizens on both sides of the boulevard, there were also supporters of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah to greet the pope, and the party, which is in Lebanon's coalition government, called on him to condemn Israeli "injustice and aggression."

The Pope concluded his visit to Turkey this morning, his first to a foreign country since May, when he was elected.

During a solemn liturgy at the Orthodox Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, the pope said this morning that "in this time of bloody conflicts and violence, in places near and far, Catholics and Orthodox Christians are called to be builders of peace."

Shortly before that, at the Armenian Cathedral in Istanbul, the pope praised "the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout the centuries, often in tragic circumstances," an allusion to the highly sensitive issue of the 1915-1916 genocide of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which Ankara vehemently denies.

The Pope was warmly welcomed in Turkey by the small Catholic community, but his visit remained discreet, largely due to a heavy security presence that prevented any contact with the outside world.