“Lebanon is a country that has endured immense suffering but continues to bear witness to faith and resilience,” Boustany said.
John Paul II’s solidarity with Lebanon throughout civil war
Recalling earlier pontificates, Boustany — who was named after the Maronite mystic St. Charbel — said St. John Paul II’s solidarity with Lebanese people has had a profound impact on generations of families living in and outside of Lebanon.
“One of his most memorable statements, made in 1989, still resonates deeply: ‘Lebanon is more than a country; it is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West,” Boustany told CNA, quoting the Polish pope’s message of peace in Lebanon.
“That vision still inspires many Lebanese today,” he said.
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For Bassila, that phrase “became part of our national identity” and “remains one of the most powerful messages ever spoken to the people of Lebanon.”
Having left Lebanon as a young adult to work as an international humanitarian aid worker, Bassila has vivid childhood memories of the Polish pope’s visit to his homeland seven years after the civil war ended.
“I was 10 years old when Pope John Paul II visited Lebanon on May 10–11, 1997, and that date is engraved in the Lebanese collective memory,” Bassila told CNA.
“His visit — essentially the first full papal visit to Lebanon — came just after the end of the civil war, at a time when people and families were still wounded, struggling, and trying to rebuild their lives,” he continued.
Throughout the duration of the civil war approximately 150,000 people were killed, 17,000 went missing, and hundreds of thousands more people were left displaced, according to an Associated Press report.
Describing the highly-televised visit as a “true national event,” Bassila recalled how “the highway from the airport to the Melkite Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa was completely filled with crowds” waiting to greet the leader of Catholics worldwide.
“It was festive in a way Lebanon hadn’t experienced in years,” he shared with CNA.
“I still recall our Orthodox neighbor buying a huge Vatican flag and heading out to greet the pope — something that, for me, symbolized unity and a rare moment of joy shared across communities,” he continued.
Benedict XVI’s call for unity, dialogue in the Middle East
The second papal visit to Lebanon was made by Pope Benedict XVI about a year after the Syrian civil war broke out on March 15, 2011.
During the 2012 visit, Benedict promoted interreligious dialogue and promulgated his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente in Beirut on the Sept. 14 feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross.
Boustany, who had already entered religious life in Australia by the time of Benedict’s visit to Lebanon, closely followed the three-day papal visit through Catholic media.
“I also recall how Patriarch [Bechara Boutros] Raï spoke about the Holy Father’s amazement at being welcomed with such joy not only by Christians but also by Lebanese of other faiths,” he said, reflecting on comments made by the head of the Maronite Church.
“It was a remarkable testimony to Lebanon’s spirit of coexistence,” he added.
Kristina Millare is a freelance journalist with a professional communications background in the humanitarian aid and development sector, news journalism, entertainment marketing, politics and government, business and entrepreneurship.
