Pope Leo ends first foreign trip with silent prayer at Beirut blast site

Pope Leo XIV will offer a silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion as he wraps up his first foreign trip to Turkey and Lebanon on Tuesday.

He also will meet with relatives of some of the 218 victims of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020.

The explosion tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.

No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest crisis after decades of corruption and financial crimes.

When he arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, Leo urged the country’s political leaders to pursue the truth as a means of peace and reconciliation in the country.

Leo sought to bring a message of peace to Lebanon as it copes with years of economic and political crises.

Ahead of his large public mass in the Lebanese capital’s seaside waterfront on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV will hold a silent prayer nearby at the site of the deadly Beirut port explosion with some families of the 218 victims.

The blast on Aug. 4, 2020, was fueled by hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the port and flattened several neighborhoods.

Leo’s late predecessor, Pope Francis, openly advocated for the families.

Mireille Khoury, who lost her 15-year-old son Elias, is one of the family members who will join the prayer.

An ongoing probe that has implicated a long list of politicians, judicial and security officials continues to face obstructions as families push for international support including from the Vatican.

Lebanon will never heal from its wounds without justice and the port blast probe could set a precedent, Khoury said.