Pope Leo XIV and Patriarch Bartholomew I proclaimed the Nicene Creed together without the Filioque, the phrase added in the Latin West centuries after the council of Nicaea
"What is lived in this place stands as a clear reminder to all — to your country, but also to the whole human family," the Pope said, praising the nuns who run the hospital.
For Samer Nassif, chorepiscopus of Sidon in Lebanon, Leo XIV’s visit to the saint’s tomb is a sign of growing devotion to the patron saint of Lebanon.
Leo XIV's visit has sparked an outpouring of joy in Lebanon, but Christians there are also afraid that Israel will bomb the south of the country again.
During his visit to Lebanon, and hours after visiting the saint's tomb, Pope Leo XIV commented on this unique detail of images of St. Charbel.
"Türkiye has an important role that it could play in all of this," says Pope Leo.
Hailed as a miracle worker well beyond Lebanon (by Christians and Muslims), St. Charbel is one of the country's most beloved saints. Pope prayed at his tomb.
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Beirut on Sunday afternoon after spending four days in Turkey. He traveled part of the route to the presidential palace in Baabda in the popemobile, under torrential rain.
With the Armenian Apostolic community and then with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Pope participated in "practical ecumenism" and assured the Catholic resolve to continue.
On November 29, Pope Leo XIV presided over his only public Mass in Turkey in a large sports hall in Istanbul. Some 3,000 faithful gathered for this celebration
Pope Leo's homily at the only public Mass he will celebrate in Turkey: feast of St. Andrew and 1st Sunday of Advent.
Leo and Bartholomew pray together, exchange gifts, and sign a Joint Declaration, before retreating in private to meet on the future of Christian unity.
Like Benedict and Francis, the Holy Father visited one of Turkey's most important, and most impressive, mosques.
In Iznik, the sound of the muezzin gives way to Christian hymns. The pilgrimage to Nicaea, which Pope Francis so wanted to make, has been accomplished.
In the 1,700th year after that momentous gathering of Christendom at Nicaea, the successors of those bishops, in the persons of Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew, joined their voices in faith.
The Holy Father urged the tiny minority to trust in God's ways, as he chooses littleness and works with the power of the Holy Spirit.
In societies where efficiency and materialism dominate, we lose respect for the elderly, the Pope lamented.
