St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and Divine Infant of Prague Mission

A screenshot from the Vancouver video in which Alissa Golob recorded her conversation with a health care worker at BC Women’s Hospital. / Credit: RightNow YouTube/B.C. Catholic

Vancouver, Canada, Dec 1, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

A week after The Catholic Register in Canada revealed that pro-life advocate Alissa Golob went undercover while 22 weeks pregnant to test whether late-term abortions were accessible in Canada without medical justification, the national response continues to intensify, with a new twist: a fourth hidden-camera video that Golob says she is legally barred from releasing.

Golob, co-founder of RightNow, posed as an undecided pregnant woman in abortion facilities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary in 2023. The Nov. 19 Register story detailed her conversations with clinic counselors and physicians who told her late-term abortions could be arranged at nearby hospitals, sometimes “up to 32 weeks,” without needing to provide medical reasons.

Staff described procedures as a “mini stillbirth,” advised her she could “expel the fetus in the car,” and said reasons such as already having two children or “not wanting to be pregnant” were acceptable.

Those recordings — three of which have now been released — directly contradict long-standing political claims that late-term abortions in Canada are only performed in cases of maternal health risk or severe fetal anomalies.

In an email interview with The B.C. Catholic, Golob said the reaction from Canadians has been more visceral than she expected.

The dominant response has been “overwhelming shock and horror from the average Canadian who didn’t think late-term abortions were possible,” she said.

Many who describe themselves as pro-choice wrote to her saying the recordings were disturbing and that unrestricted late-term abortion “just shouldn’t be allowed.”

By contrast, she said some abortion-rights advocates have reacted with confusion and contradiction. “They were basically trying to throw everything they could at it to see if anything would stick,” she said. “Some said the videos were lies, some said late-term abortions don’t happen — despite the videos proving otherwise.”

Golob said the most significant development since the Catholic Register story broke is her discovery that she cannot release the Calgary footage at all.

“Alberta, shockingly, has the most extreme and overreaching bubble-zone legislation in the country,” she said. “Distributing any footage recorded in the bubble zone could result in a fine or jail time.”

She called the legislation “worse than Ontario and even Montreal,” meaning the fourth video will remain unreleased unless the province changes its law.

Although no physician has contacted her privately, Golob said some health care professionals reacted strongly in group chats and medical forums.

“Doctors were trying to disprove that late-term abortions happen until others in the chat posted my undercover videos,” she said.

None of the clinics featured in the videos has issued public statements or responded to inquiries, she said. “They know they’ve been caught red-handed… there’s not much they can say to remedy the situation, so they say nothing at all.”

Abortion advocacy organizations, including Action Canada, have alleged the videos lack context.

Golob dismissed the charge. “Of course the videos were edited — sometimes I was in the clinics for hours,” she said, and “99% of the talking” is by clinic staff.

She noted that if anything were manipulated, the clinics could sue her and “easily win.”

She has already shared the full recordings with reporters so they could verify that passages were not altered.

Conservative members of Parliament including Leslyn Lewis, Rosemarie Falk, and Garnett Genuis have shared the videos, as did People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier. Liberal member of Parliament Doug Eyolfson condemned them, drawing “surprising” pushback” from Canadians across party lines.

Golob said the recordings show that late-term abortion referrals are far easier to obtain than most Canadians assume.

“Abortionists have no problem and easily and readily refer you for a late-term abortion… for absolutely no reason whatsoever,” she said. Even an explanation as simple as “I don’t want to be pregnant” was treated as acceptable for a third-trimester referral.

Golob said one issue has been overlooked in the public debate: the reliability of Canadian abortion statistics.

“In multiple videos I was told that any end of pregnancy after 20 weeks — no matter how it happens — is considered a stillbirth,” she said. Combined with the fact that provinces report statistics voluntarily, she argued Canadians have no way of knowing how many late-term induction abortions actually occur. “We should be demanding to know how many… and why.”

For now, Golob said she has no further video releases planned unless Alberta changes its law. But she believes the Catholic Register’s original reporting has opened a door Canadians weren’t expecting.

“People are seeing something they were told for years was impossible — and they want answers.”

This story was first published by The B.C. Catholic and is reprinted here with permission. 

A picture shows a view of the destroyed Beirut port silos on Aug. 1, 2025, as Lebanon prepares to mark the fifth anniversary of the Aug. 4, 2020, harbor explosion that killed more than 250 people and injured thousands. / Credit: JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

ACI MENA, Dec 1, 2025 / 15:21 pm (CNA).

As part of his visit to Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV will pray at the site of the Aug. 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion — the largest nonnuclear blast in modern history. For William Noun, the brother of a victim, this initiative is crucial and a continuation of what Pope Francis began. 

The explosion left more than 200 dead and 6,000 injured — 800 hospitalized in regular wards, 130 in intensive care. It particularly devastated East Beirut’s predominantly Christian neighborhoods. The scale of devastation surpassed anything Lebanon had experienced in decades: bloodied streets, collapsed buildings, and entire districts destroyed. The word most used by witnesses to describe the situation was “apocalyptic.” 

Vatican solidarity

The destruction was not limited to lives, infrastructure, and finances. It also crushed the morale of an already-exhausted population as they watched their capital collapse in front of their eyes. Yet the tragedy drew significant international solidarity, including strong support from the Vatican.

Immediately after the explosion, Pope Francis sent a donation of 250,000 euros ($295,488) to the Church in Lebanon to support emergency relief and recovery efforts. 

His support continued in the years that followed. In the summer of 2024, Francis met at the Vatican with relatives of the Beirut port victims. Noun, who lost his brother Joe in the blast, was among those present.

In an interview with ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, Noun underscored the profound significance of his visit to the Vatican, both personally and in the pursuit of justice. 

He traveled to Rome with his wife, Maria, who, like him, lost a sibling in the explosion. Bound by grief, they eventually chose life. Three years after the blast, they married, and when they met Pope Francis, Maria was pregnant. 

The pope blessed their unborn child and gently asked them to return once the baby was born. But when their son arrived, Pope Francis had already passed away. Now, with Pope Leo coming to Lebanon, their child may receive another blessing — but this time from another pope.

For Noun, the encounter with Francis was unforgettable. He recalled how attentively the pope listened, how genuinely he wanted to understand the victims not as statistics but as lives abruptly torn apart. Noun showed him photographs of his brother Joe, who led a Catholic youth movement in their hometown; Francis lingered over the images and asked to know more about Joe. 

Until that moment, public discourse on the explosion had focused almost entirely on numbers, not on the lives behind them. But Francis, consistent with his pastoral approach, made a point of focusing on the human dimension.

The visit also carried weight on the justice front. Noun and other families met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to discuss the investigation, the political obstruction, and the urgent need for international support.

For Noun, the meeting had a tangible impact, but momentum later faded. With Pope Leo’s trip to Beirut, he now sees a rare opportunity to revive the struggle for truth and accountability that has been repeatedly silenced.

A nation without justice

Lebanese authorities have yet to deliver justice for the victims of the Beirut port explosion more than five years after the blast devastated the capital. For Noun, justice is nonnegotiable.

“Justice is a right; whether it comes early or late, it is still a right,” he said. “No one can accept losing it, especially after an explosion of this magnitude.”

When asked what stands in the way of the truth, Noun pointed first to political interference and pressure on the investigation. That, he argued, is why support from the Vatican matters. “The pressure coming from the pope’s office can break through the political pressure blocking the case.”

The second major obstacle, he said, is the absence of genuine international will. Countries that call themselves “friends of Lebanon,” he argued, have refrained from offering real help. “If there had been sincere political will, the truth would have appeared within the first two or three months.”

The blast shook the world and sparked global outrage, yet meaningful international assistance to the investigation never materialized. There were statements of solidarity but, he noted, “no one provided anything that actually helped move the investigation forward.”

The unanswered question

The blast was triggered by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored improperly in a warehouse at the port, material that had been sitting there for years despite repeated warnings from officials. Behind the shipment lies a complex network of businessmen, intermediaries, and companies spread across nearly 10 countries with alleged links to networks close to the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Yet what happened specifically that Aug. 4 remains unresolved. No conclusive evidence has clarified the cause of the fire that ignited the explosives. Was it an accident, an attack, or sabotage? Five years later, the central question remains unanswered.

A significant number of Lebanese continue to believe that the explosion bore the fingerprints of Israel. In his conversation with ACI MENA, Noun noted that Hezbollah moved quickly in the opposite direction.

“From the beginning, accusations were circulating,” he said. “But Hezbollah was the first to absolve Israel completely; they said it was an electrical short circuit or welding sparks.”

He recalled the speech delivered on Aug. 8 by the secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, just four days after the blast, which stunned many Lebanese because Hezbollah typically blames Israel for everything. That time, however, they dismissed the possibility outright.

From that moment on, Noun argued, the party worked aggressively to obstruct the investigation, putting pressure on the families of the victims, the presiding judge, and judicial authorities. The campaign included public and legal attacks against Judge Tarek Bitar, political paralysis that froze the government for six months, and repeated withdrawals of Hezbollah-aligned ministers from Cabinet sessions.

“It would take hours to detail everything they did publicly,” Noun said. “And even more happened behind closed doors, with security and political figures.”

The goal, he believes, was to ensure that the investigation itself never reaches a conclusion. “The strategy is not just to remove a judge,” he said. “The strategy is to destroy the investigation. They refuse any investigation and want to declare it an ‘accident’ and close the case.”

“I’m not the only one pointing fingers at Hezbollah; three-quarters of the country does,” he added.

Noun is now one of the central figures representing the families of the Beirut blast victims and leading the fight against impunity. His battle has been far from easy. He has been the target of smear campaigns — particularly from Hezbollah supporters — and he was arrested in 2023 following comments he made on television about the stalled investigation. In 2025, he and Peter Bou Saab, also the brother of a victim, reported being assaulted by armed men shortly after a rally held by the families of the victims.

Despite the pressure, Noun is not willing to back down. His goal remains unchanged: justice.

More than a symbolic visit

Noun believes that Pope Leo’s presence in Beirut carries weight far beyond symbolism. The Vatican, he noted, holds not only a spiritual authority but also a social and, at times, political influence. It has closely followed the port blast investigation since 2020 and is fully informed about its developments. For him, this visit represents a continuation of what Pope Francis began; a sustained moral pressure that keeps the pursuit of justice alive.

He said families do not yet know whether Pope Leo will deliver a speech at the port site, and for now they have been asked simply to attend and follow the instructions of the Vatican’s organizing team, since the gathering is primarily meant to be a moment of prayer. But if the pope does speak, Noun said he hopes to hear a clear message affirming support for justice and renewed international pressure.

“The pope understands exactly where he will be standing and what it means for the families to be beside him,” Noun emphasized. The Vatican’s voice, he believes, matters: The pope is close to global decision-makers, and his position gives him unique leverage.

“There is a major role he can play, not only through prayer and faith but also by influencing action,” he said.

Father Dany Dergham, a Maronite priest who leads the “Church Talks Politics’’ platform, has a more concrete request for Pope Leo. In a post on X, he addressed the pope directly, writing: “Your Holiness, if you wish to bring us a gift on the occasion of your visit, the most precious and sacred to us would be the satellite images of the Beirut port crime, which can be requested from the concerned countries through Vatican diplomacy, so that we may know who killed our families and our children, destroyed our homes, blew up our churches and institutions, and shattered our dreams.”

Beyond the blast

Noun’s hopes for the papal visit extend far beyond the explosion, although it remains at the heart of his struggle. What he wishes Pope Leo, the Vatican, and the international community to recognize is the critical importance of safeguarding the Christian presence in Lebanon.

Lebanon, he stressed, remains the only country in the region where Christians enjoy this degree of freedom. But that reality, he warned, is under threat. He believes the Church must take a more active role in helping young Christians remain in the country rather than emigrating. While acknowledging the important work the Church already does, he argued that much more is needed, from early childhood education and schools to universities, housing initiatives, and long-term support systems that allow families to build a future in Lebanon.

Noun also pointed to growing tensions between Hezbollah and the Christian community. According to him, the pope’s visit is already being framed by Hezbollah supporters in sectarian terms, questioning the state’s preparations and national attention surrounding it.

Speaking about the broader political context, he expressed deep concern over what he described as Hezbollah’s separation from the national interest. “Every time something national brings people together, they choose to break away from the national consensus and go in a different direction. They believe everything is done against the party’s interests,” he said.

Noun argued that the party and its community must recognize that “they are not the decision-makers, not the ones who run the country, and their militant logic cannot govern Lebanon.” He stressed that Lebanon’s Christian community cannot survive without a functioning state: “It is the state that protects everyone, not weapons and militias.”

According to Noun, most Christians today are far removed from Hezbollah’s environment and mentality, and while a few attempt to present an illusion of harmony, “when you look at any village where Hezbollah supporters coexist with Christians, you see the tensions very clearly.” He said that what the party portrays publicly is very different from the reality on the ground.

Noun also said it is against this backdrop that Pope Leo’s stop at the port carries real weight. His visit to the port will not rewrite the past, and it may not be enough to break the system that has blocked the truth, but standing on that ground forces the world to look again at a case many hoped would fade. And for the families of the victims, that visibility is itself a form of resistance, a refusal to let powerful people close the file.

Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa in the Philippines shares a laugh with Pope Francis in October 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 1, 2025 / 14:14 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa has officially begun his new role as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). 

The CBCP elected Garcera during its 130th plenary assembly on July 5 in a break from the conference’s tradition of electing the previous vice president, in this case Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, to serve in the role. The last time the conference opted not to elect its vice president was in 2011. 

Garcera, who has advocated for synodality within the Filipino Church, comes to the leadership position amid national instability due to government corruption and natural disasters. Garcera’s predecessor, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, served two four-year terms. 

Archbishop Julius Tonel of Zamboanga will act as Garcera’s vice president, and their terms will run until Nov. 30, 2027.

“I hope you will pray for me, because the cross that was placed on me is very heavy,” Garcera said in a video message on Facebook after his election. 

Garcera published a 271-page document encouraging synodality titled “Enlarging the Space of Our Tent” in January 2024. In his epilogue for the document, Garcera wrote that he hoped it would help people “embrace a more inclusive perspective.”

“They will be reminded of the richness and diversity of human experience,” he added.

Garcera also has advocated for “pastoral sensitivity” toward individuals with same-sex attractions, encouraging priests, religious, and lay leaders to walk with and guide them “toward deeper union with Christ, supporting them in living out their vocation to holiness, and [ensuring] that our parishes remain true communities of welcome, healing, and love.” 

While affirming Church teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, Garcera insisted that “truth must never become a reason for exclusion or hostility.” Rather, he said, “it calls us to a deeper commitment to love.” 

The Lipa archbishop will oversee the conference’s work, act as its main spokesperson, and represent the Church in the Philippines on a national and international level, including meetings at the Vatican and with other bishops’ conferences, according to a press release from the conference announcing the transition. 

Prior to his appointment as bishop of Daet in 2007, Garcera served as assistant secretary-general for the CBCP, and as executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Mission. He later chaired the same commission, as well as the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, as a bishop. He has served as archbishop of Lipa since 2017.

Bishop Mario Avilés. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Brownsville

Vatican City, Dec 1, 2025 / 13:44 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Monday appointed Bishop Mario Avilés as the new bishop of Corpus Christi, selecting the Mexican-born Oratorian to lead the south Texas diocese. 

Avilés, 56, who has served as auxiliary bishop of Brownsville, Texas, since February 2018, will succeed Bishop Michael Mulvey, 76. Mulvey has led the Diocese of Corpus Christi since 2010.  

“We welcome Bishop-designate Avilés with open hearts and deep prayer,” Mulvey said in a statement after the Vatican announcement on Dec. 1. 

As the ninth bishop of Corpus Christi, Avilés will take responsibility for the spiritual leadership of more than 200,000 Catholics across a 12-county region in south Texas. 

“The Diocese of Brownsville will greatly miss Bishop Mario’s wise counsel and good judgment, his joyful presence in our parish communities, and his administrative skills in the service of our diocesan offices and Catholic schools. Yet at the same time we share in the special joy of the Diocese of Corpus Christi at the news of Bishop Mario’s appointment,” Brownsville Bishop Daniel Flores said in a statement. 

Avilés was born on Sept. 16, 1969, in Mexico City. In 1986, he joined the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a pontifical society of apostolic life composed of priests and lay brothers founded in 1575, which now has more than 70 oratories worldwide.

He studied for the priesthood in Mexico City before continuing his education in Rome, earning bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and sacred theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. He also holds a master’s degree in education administration and supervision and is a certified teacher in the state of Texas.

At the age of 28, Avilés was ordained a priest in the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle National Shrine in San Juan, Texas. He became parochial vicar at St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Pharr and worked in the Pharr Oratory Schools as a governance board member, teacher, principal, and rector. He also served as vicar, secretary, treasurer, and novice master for the Oratorian congregation. 

From 2000 to 2012, he served on the Permanent Deputation of the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri for Latin America. At the congregation’s 2012 General Congress, he was elected procurator general of the confederation, a Rome-based role representing Oratorian communities to the Holy See. He speaks Spanish, English, and Italian.

Avilés’ episcopal motto is “Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris,” meaning “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts,” a reference to Romans 5:5 and the introit of the Mass for the feast of St. Philip Neri. His crest includes red roses honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe and his Mexican heritage as well as three gold stars drawn from the Neri family crest, symbolizing his long affiliation with the oratory.

“I ask all the faithful of the Diocese of Brownsville to pray for Bishop Mario as he prepares to take up his new mission of service in Corpus Christi,” Flores said. “May God bless Bishop Mario Avilés and may the maternal care of the blessed and ever-immaculate Virgin Mary accompany him always.”

Abdul Mannan Khan and his disabled son Abu Mosa Khan meet with Father Robert Terence McCahill at their home in Munshigonj district, Bangladesh, on Nov. 18, 2025. The priest visits villages daily to find disabled children and connect them with medical treatment. / Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario

Munshigonj, Bangladesh, Dec 1, 2025 / 13:34 pm (CNA).

Father Robert Terence McCahill, a Maryknoll missionary who works in health care for poor, disabled people in Bangladesh, marks 50 years of service in the country in this first week of December.

Over his five decades in Bangladesh, McCahill has visited 13 administrative districts in the Muslim-majority nation, spending three years in each one serving the people there. He left Srinagar in Munshiganj district near Dhaka in late November after completing three years there, though he does not yet know where he will go next.

“I think that just as Jesus was not tied to one place and asked to spread the word of God, I travel around and reach people of all religions with love and work,” McCahill told CNA on Nov. 18.

Born in Iowa in 1937, McCahill later moved to Indiana due to his father’s work. In 1964, he was ordained a priest and came to the Philippines that same year.

In 1975, he and four other priests came to Bangladesh at the invitation of Archbishop T.A. Ganguly of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. After learning Bengali for a year, his first place of work was in the northern district of Tangail, where he worked for nine years.

In Bangladesh, he is known as “Bob Bhai” — Brother Bob. McCahill was given this name by a Muslim friend who thought Bangladeshi Muslims would have difficulty pronouncing his full name, and he is still known by this name in the villages where he serves.

“My only son has been disabled since birth; he cannot walk or speak. I have seen many doctors but to no avail,” said Abdul Mannan Khan, 45, a Muslim resident of Munshigonj district.

“Bob Bhai often comes to my house, laughs and jokes with my son. Now I am getting treatment in the hospital through him. I don’t need any money,” Khan told CNA.

His 15-year-old son Abu Mosa Khan is the only child in the family, and his parents care for him devotedly. But the family says that no one around them gets along with this disabled boy the way McCahill does.

“Not everything is possible with money alone; many great things are possible with love, like Bob Bhai is doing,” Khan said.

McCahill rents a small room wherever he goes or stays there if someone gives him a free one. The authorities have given him a 5-by-8-foot space in a schoolroom in Srinagar, separated by tin walls. The dimly-lit room contains a mess of clothes, a simple wooden bed, a dirty mosquito net, a basic electric light, and a fan. There is also a kerosene stove for cooking, a few small utensils, and a bicycle.

He rides a bicycle at least 12-15 miles every day to visit rural villages, see disabled children, and take them to different hospitals for treatment as needed.

“Bob Bhai comes to our house early in the morning on his bicycle,” said a man named Farman, 83.

Farman’s grandson Rakibul, 8, became disabled a year after his birth and cannot walk or speak. His mother has married elsewhere and his father no longer cares for him, so Rakibul lives with his grandfather.

“After undergoing treatment in many places, Rakibul is now getting treatment in Dhaka free of cost on Bob Bhai’s advice, and now he is on the path to some improvement,” Farman said.

McCahill, who lost his mother at an early age, moved to Indiana with his father. As a young man, he worked as a newspaper delivery boy on a bicycle. Later, while studying in high school, he worked as a house cleaner and then as a truck driver.

While driving a truck as a young man — before entering the priesthood — he was saved from a serious accident through prayer to God. The truck’s brakes failed, and he initially thought he would have to jump from the vehicle, but somehow he survived.

“After surviving that accident, I decided without any hesitation that I would become a priest and a missionary,” McCahill said.

He has had a great passion for bicycles since his youth. When he came to Bangladesh, the roads were not well developed, and he could go everywhere by bicycle. So he chose a bicycle as his vehicle.

“Among other reasons, the main reason is simplicity, and bicycles are the vehicle of poor people. At the same time, cycling also keeps the body healthy, so I ride bicycles. I believe lov[ing] one another is the key to happiness,” McCahill said.

“Also, when I ride a bicycle, many people ask me various questions. I can easily answer them while standing,” this cycling missionary said.

McCahill finds peace in his life by serving people. He will continue to serve as long as he can walk, he said. He enjoys discovering one new area after another and meeting new people. He has not faced any major difficulty in the country despite the fact that around 90% of the population is Muslim and less than 1% is Christian.

“First, there’s suspicion — expecting and getting it. By the second year, there are many people who trust you, and that builds during the year, a year of trust-building. By the third year, there is affection for me. And so I knew at that time, at the end of the third year, I could leave and do the same thing in another town,” he said.

He believes that a priest should not only celebrate Mass inside a church but also preach the word of Christ everywhere.

“I celebrate Mass here myself every day,” he said. “I want to live like this, and when I die, I want to be buried in this country.”

Pope Leo XIV greets a young mother and her child outside of the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Bkerke, Lebanon, Dec 1, 2025 / 12:34 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told thousands of young people in Lebanon on Monday that love, not retaliation, is the real force capable of transforming their country as it continues to grapple with the wounds of conflict and social instability. “The true opposition to evil is not evil, but love,” he said, calling the nation’s youth to rebuild their homeland through reconciliation, service, and a renewed rooting in faith.

The gathering took place in the square before the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch, in Bkerké, where the pope was welcomed by Patriarch Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï. After greeting the crowd in a brief tour, Pope Leo opened his address with the Arabic words “assalamu alaykum,” meaning “peace be with you,” telling the young people that this greeting of the risen Christ “sustains the joy of our meeting.”

Lebanon’s young generation has endured some of the nation’s hardest years. A devastating financial collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and the 2023–2024 border war between Hezbollah and Israel have left deep physical and social scars, contributing to widespread emigration and a sense of exhaustion among the country’s youth.

The pope spoke directly to their anxieties, acknowledging that many feel they have inherited “a world torn apart by wars and disfigured by social injustice,” yet insisted that hope lives within them. “You have time to dream, to plan, and to do good. You are the present, and the future is already taking shape in your hands.”

Pointing to Lebanon’s national symbol, he said the country “will flourish once again, beautiful and vigorous like the cedar,” explaining that its strength lies in deep roots. In the same way, he told them, the foundation of renewal cannot rest only on ideas or agreements. “The true principle of new life is the hope that comes from above. It is Christ himself. He, the Living One, is the foundation of our trust.”

Peace, he continued, cannot grow out of factional interests. “It is only genuinely sincere when I do to others what I would like them to do to me. Forgiveness leads to justice, which is the foundation of peace.”

Calling them to works of charity, he reminded them that nothing reveals God’s presence more clearly than love. Renewal begins in daily choices, he said, such as welcoming “those near and far” and offering concrete help “to friends and refugees and enemies.”

The pope held up several saints as companions for the journey: Carlo Acutis, Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Rafqa, Blessed Yakub El-Haddad, and St. Charbel, whose hidden life “shines a powerful light.” He urged the youth to pray, to read Scripture, and attend Mass and adoration. “Be contemplatives like St. Charbel,” he told them.

Pope Leo ended with the prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” and assured the young people that “the Lord will always be with you, and you can be assured of the support of the whole Church.” He entrusted them to the Mother of God, Our Lady.

Pope Leo XIV in Harissa, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Beirut, Lebanon, Dec 1, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told Lebanon’s religious leaders on Monday that their country remains a sign to the world that fear and prejudice do not have the final word. At an ecumenical and interreligious meeting in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square, the pope said Lebanon shows that unity, reconciliation, and peace can take root even amid profound differences.

In his address, the Holy Father recalled Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote in 2012 that the Church’s mission is to dialogue with followers of other religions, guided not by political interests but by theological truths rooted in faith. Pope Leo said Lebanon proves this kind of dialogue is possible, where minarets and bell towers stand side by side and bear witness to belief in the one God.

The pope said the world often watches the Middle East with trepidation, yet hope emerges when the focus turns to what unites people — their shared humanity and belief in a God of mercy. Lebanon, he said, “remains a sign that unity and peace can be achieved.” He also cited the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate, on the Church’s relation to non-Christian religions, which opened a new horizon for encounter, rejected prejudice, and affirmed the dignity of every person. Leo concluded by calling the Lebanese “builders of peace,” both within their borders and throughout the world.

Before the address, Pope Leo was welcomed at the entrance of the meeting tent by the Syriac Catholic patriarch, the Maronite patriarch, the Grand Sunni imam, and a Shia representative. The program included chanting from the Gospel, a moment of silence, and chanting from the Quran. Leaders from Sunni, Greek Orthodox, Shia, Syriac Orthodox, Druze, Armenian Orthodox, Protestant, and Alawite communities offered brief remarks, interspersed with chants. After Leo spoke, participants planted an olive tree and ended with a final prayer for peace.

Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut is widely regarded as the symbolic heart of the capital. It takes its name from Lebanese and Arab nationalists executed there by Ottoman authorities in 1916 and has long served as the city’s civic center. The square has been the site of major demonstrations that crossed sectarian lines, including the 2005 Cedar Revolution following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the nationwide 2019 protests against corruption and economic collapse, and the public outcry after the 2020 Beirut port explosion. These movements expressed frustration with Lebanon’s entrenched sectarian political system and highlighted the square’s enduring role as a gathering place where citizens of all faiths call for reform. Pope Leo’s meeting with religious leaders reinforced that symbolic role.

The Holy Father’s message was directed to leaders of a society shaped by a complex sectarian power-sharing structure, where political figures influenced by regional powers often block national decision-making. Lebanon does not publish official religious statistics, but most estimates hold that roughly 70% of the population is Muslim and about 30% Christian, the highest Christian proportion of any Arab country. Maronite Catholics form the largest Christian community.

Pope Leo XIV addressed Lebanon’s bishops, clergy, and pastoral workers at Harissa, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Elias Turk/EWTN

Harissa, Lebanon, Dec 1, 2025 / 05:32 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told Lebanon’s bishops, clergy, and pastoral workers on Monday that Christians can remain steadfast in hope “even when surrounded by the sound of weapons,” urging them to look to the Virgin Mary as a model of faith in dark and uncertain times.

Meeting them at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa on the second day of his apostolic visit, the pope said that Mary teaches believers how to persevere when daily life becomes a struggle. “It is in being with Mary at the foot of Jesus’ cross that our prayer, that invisible bridge which unites hearts, gives us the strength to continue to hope and work,” he said.

Leo recalled St. John Paul II’s words to the Lebanese — “In the Lebanon of today, you are the ones responsible for hope” — and urged believers to nurture a climate of fraternity wherever they live and work. He stressed the need to trust one another so that “the regenerative power of forgiveness and mercy may triumph,” adding that the fruits of this message are visible in Lebanon’s resilience.

The pope compared faith to an anchor that holds firm in turbulence. “Our faith is an anchor in heaven,” he said. “Hold fast to the rope.” He reminded those present that peace requires loving without fear and giving without measure. Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Leo said Christians are called to celebrate “the victory of love over hate… forgiveness over revenge,” a message he said continues to guide the Church’s mission.

During the gathering, Pope Leo was welcomed by clergy and the shrine’s rector before processing to the presbytery, where Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian greeted him. The celebration included prayers, testimonies, Arabic chants, the Gospel reading (John 19:25–27), the Magnificat, the Our Father, a blessing, Marian hymns, and the exchange of gifts.

Pope Leo also presented a Golden Rose to the Virgin Mary, a traditional papal gift to major Marian shrines. The ornament, a gold branch of roses set in a silver vase and mounted on white marble, bears the papal coat of arms and symbolizes the pope’s devotion to the Mother of God. Leo said the rose’s fragrance calls Christians to be “the fragrance of Christ,” drawing a parallel to the richness and diversity of Lebanese family tables and encouraging the faithful to live that spirit of shared love each day.

The pope also highlighted testimonies shared during the meeting. Father Youhanna spoke of Debbabiyé, where Christians, Muslims, and refugees live together in mutual trust. Loren, a migrant worker, appealed to all communities to welcome those forced from their homes, telling them, “Welcome home!” Sister Dima described keeping a school open during violence, teaching children to share “bread, fear, and hope.”

The pope noted that the shrine itself remains “a symbol of unity for the entire Lebanese people.” Rising about 2,130 feet above sea level and roughly 16 miles north of Beirut, the sanctuary offers sweeping views of Jounieh Bay and stands not far from Bkerke, the seat of the Maronite patriarch. Its white-painted bronze statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, 28 feet tall and weighing about 33,000 pounds, was cast in France and placed atop a 66-foot stone pedestal shaped like a tree trunk. The adjacent basilica, designed to evoke both a cedar tree and a Phoenician ship, seats around 3,500 people and opens toward the Marian statue through its glass façade. The site is entrusted to the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries.

Later at the apostolic nunciature, Pope Leo was scheduled to welcome the Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs together with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. He was then set to share lunch with them and with the country’s Orthodox patriarchs, joined by Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, in a gesture underscoring the ecumenical dimension of his visit.

Pope Leo XIV reflects on the enduring message of St. Charbel Makhlouf at the hermit’s tomb at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Annaya, Lebanon, Dec 1, 2025 / 03:37 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV began his second day in Lebanon on Monday with a deeply symbolic pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, entrusting the country and the wider Middle East to the intercession of the saint whom many Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, invoke as the “heavenly physician.”

The pope traveled roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) by car from the apostolic nunciature in Harissa to the hilltop monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, where thousands of pilgrims come each year seeking healing and consolation. The monastery’s archives record nearly 30,000 miracles attributed to St. Charbel’s intercession, including many reported by Muslims, a sign, the pope noted, of Charbel’s unique place in Lebanon’s spiritual landscape.

Pope Leo prayed in silence at the saint’s tomb before being welcomed by Abbot Hady Mahfouz, superior general of the Lebanese Maronite Order. He then offered a reflection on St. Charbel’s enduring message.

“What does St. Charbel teach us today?” Pope Leo asked. Despite leaving behind no writings, he said, the hermit of Annaya continues to speak with surprising power. “The Holy Spirit formed him so that he could teach those who live without God how to pray, those immersed in noise how to be silent.” Charbel also teaches “those who live ostentatiously how to be modest, and those who seek riches how to be poor.”

This message, he added, is addressed to all Christians and “reminds us, bishops and ordained ministers, of the evangelical demands of our vocation.”

The pope described the saint’s intercession as “a river of mercy,” recalling in particular the monthly pilgrimage held every 22nd of the month in memory of a miracle granted to a woman named Nouhad El Chami, a devotion that still draws thousands.

Pope Leo prayed for unity within the Church and for peace in Lebanon and the Levant. “There is no peace without conversion of hearts,” he warned. As a sign of entrustment, he offered a lit lamp to the monastery, praying that Lebanon “may always walk in the light of Christ.” He concluded by reciting a prayer in French, asking God, through St. Charbel’s example, to grant the Lebanese people faith, inner silence, healing of body and soul, and renewed strength in trials.

Born Yousef Antoun Makhlouf in 1828 in the remote village of Bkaakafra, St. Charbel is one of the most beloved saints of the Maronite Church. Known from childhood for his devotion and simplicity, he entered the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1851, was ordained a priest in 1859, and later embraced a life of strict solitude at the Hermitage of Sts. Peter and Paul near Annaya.

For 23 years he lived in silence, fasting, and continuous prayer. After his death on Christmas Eve in 1898, reports of extraordinary signs around his tomb, including the incorrupt state of his body, drew global attention. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. Today he is venerated worldwide as a model of humility and a powerful intercessor for the sick.

St. Charbel’s tomb lies within the St. Maron Monastery, perched at 1,200 meters (three-fourths of a mile) above sea level. Founded by the Lebanese Maronite Order, the site grew significantly after Charbel’s beatification to accommodate the rising number of pilgrims. A larger church dedicated to the saint was inaugurated in 1974. The monks continue to welcome visitors and maintain the grounds, sustaining themselves through agricultural work, a balance of labor and prayer inspired by the saint they guard.

Pope Leo’s visit to Annaya, the first by any pontiff, reinforced the central message of his pilgrimage to Lebanon: a call to conversion, hope, and unity rooted in the spiritual heritage of a country longing for peace — and in the intercession of one of its most beloved saints.

Pope Leo XIV speaks at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, on Nov. 30, 2025. / Vatican Media

Beirut, Lebanon, Nov 30, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged Lebanon’s leaders to embrace tenacity, dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the common good during an address at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on Sunday, continuing his weeklong apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon.

The trip, focused on Christian unity, regional stability, and the Church’s mission in the Middle East, has taken the Holy Father from historic encounters in Istanbul to a nation still recovering from political crisis and the 2023–2024 war.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” the pope began, adding that peace “takes tenacity” and “perseverance to protect and nurture life.” His remarks came as Lebanon seeks stability after years of political paralysis, economic collapse, and the lingering trauma of regional conflict.

The Presidential Palace, overlooking Beirut and built in 1956, hosted its first papal address since Parliament elected Joseph Aoun on Jan. 9 as Lebanon’s 14th president after more than two years without a head of state. A Maronite Christian and career army officer born in Beirut in 1964, Aoun welcomed Pope Leo for a ceremony that included a traditional dabke dance and the planting of a “cedar of friendship” in the palace gardens alongside Vatican and Maronite Church leaders.

Pope Leo acknowledged the difficulty of governing “in circumstances that are highly complex, conflictual, and uncertain,” but praised the resilience of the Lebanese people. “You are a people who do not give up,” he said, noting the many who work for peace quietly each day.

He described Lebanon as “a community of communities, united by a common language: hope,” at a time when many parts of the world face rising pessimism, instability, and decisions made “to the detriment of the common good.” Despite the burden of crisis and what he called “an economy that kills,” he said Lebanon has repeatedly shown its capacity to “start again.”

The pope urged the country’s leaders to remain close to their people, emphasize the role of youth and civil society, and resist reducing national life to competing interests. “The common good is more than the sum of many interests,” he said.

Reconciliation, he stressed, is indispensable. Wounds — personal and collective — require time and courage to heal, he said, warning that without this process “we would remain stuck, each imprisoned by our own pain.” Dialogue, even amid misunderstandings, is “the path.”

Pope Leo spoke of the sorrow caused by emigration and the courage required to remain or return. He highlighted the contributions of women, whom he called uniquely gifted in “the work of peacemaking.”

Closing his address, the pope reminded Lebanon that peace is not only a human achievement but also a gift that shapes the heart and teaches people to “harmonize our steps with those of others.” Peace, he said, “is a desire and a vocation; it is a gift and a work in progress.”

Following the ceremony at Baabda, Pope Leo was scheduled to travel to Harissa, where he will stay at the Apostolic Nunciature. On Monday morning he will begin his day with a prayer visit to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf at the Monastery of St. Maroun in Annaya.