Pope Leo ended his visit to Lebanon with an appeal to leaders across the Middle East to hear their peoples’ demands for peace and to turn away from the horror of war. He delivered the message during a Mass attended by about 150000 people on Beirut’s waterfront, calling on Lebanon to confront years of conflict, political crises and economic hardship. He said the region needed new approaches to overcome political, social and religious divisions.

Leo spent three days in Lebanon after beginning his trip in Turkey, urging sect leaders to work together and political figures to stay committed to peace efforts following last year’s war between Israel and Hezb-ollah and continued Israeli strikes. Before departing for Rome, he said he had been unable to visit the south because it was in a state of conflict and uncertainty, and pleaded for att-acks and hostilities to stop. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asked him to keep the country in his prayers.

Crowds lined the waterfront well before the Mass began, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags as Leo toured in an enclosed popemobile. Earlier in the day he visited a psychiatric hospital run by Franciscan nuns and prayed at the Beirut port, where the 2020 explosion kil-led more than 200 people and caused massive destruction. He met survivors and families of victims, laid a wreath, and handed out rosaries. Many Lebanese saw his visit as a rare moment of hope in a country still dealing with economic collapse, the spillover of the Ga-za genocide, and the strain of hosting one million refugees.