President Aoun thanks Pope Leo: The Lebanese preserve the peace appeals you made for Lebanon

President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, welcomed the choice of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV of the Shrine of Saint Charbel in the Monastery of Mar Maroun Annaya, among the global shrines, including the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, the Shrine of the Virgin in Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to the Shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy, for His Holiness to lead the Rosary prayer from the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, with which he will conclude this evening the month of May, which the Church dedicates each year to the Virgin Mary.

While President Aoun thanked Pope Leo for choosing the Shrine of Saint Charbel in Annaya among the global shrines, he said: "The Lebanese from all their sects, whether residents or those in countries of diaspora, still preserve in their hearts and consciences the first apostolic visit which you dedicated to Lebanon last winter, and they still raise prayers to Saint Charbel which you wrote and recited before his shrine, just as they preserve the peace appeals which you made for Lebanon, especially in the painful circumstances they are currently experiencing."

The President of the Republic added: "That His Holiness chooses to lead the Rosary prayer for the victims of wars and the suffering, the displaced, workers in the medical and nursing sectors, and volunteers in relief who provide humanitarian aid daily, and for the establishment of lasting peace in the world and in Lebanon, is evidence of the extent of the Apostolic See's concern for Lebanon and the countries suffering from wars in the world. And Lebanon, which has to this day paid nearly 3000 martyrs from its sons as a result of the war and aggression imposed upon it, among them nurses, paramedics, volunteers, and innocents from various sects and regions, and still witnesses the displacement of more than one and a half million of its sons, shares His Holiness's prayer so that their pure blood and their sufferings may herald the resurrection and salvation of Lebanon, and raises with him prayer to Mary, Our Lady of Lebanon, chosen by God above the women of the worlds, from near the shrine of Saint Charbel itself, so that the Lord may preserve Lebanon as a space of peace, freedom, and a life of harmony between cultures and religions."