Pope Leo XIV visited the site of the explosion in the capital of Lebanon - the port of Beirut. He prayed for those who died in August 2020, thus completing his first foreign trip to Lebanon and Turkey, reports UNN with reference to Associated Press News.
Details
The Pope also met with relatives of some of the 220 victims of the explosion that occurred on August 4, 2020. In his prayers, he asked for the "divine gift of peace" together with Christian and Muslim representatives of Lebanon.
In addition, he visited the De La Croix psychiatric hospital. Founded in 1952, this hospital is one of the few institutions specializing in mental health in Lebanon.
Additionally
The explosions in the port of Beirut occurred on the evening of August 4, 2020, in the port of the Lebanese capital, with an interval of 15 minutes.
The second explosion was extremely powerful - about 2 kilotons in TNT equivalent. The blast wave almost completely destroyed the port infrastructure and damaged buildings up to 10 km away.
As a result, at least 220 people died and 6,000 were injured, 110 went missing. Up to 300,000 people lost their homes, including 80,000 children.
Recall
Earlier, UNN reported that Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I visited Iznik in Turkey to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.