Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Speaking from Jordan, Father Patton said that “I think daily of my confreres living in Lebanon—in Beirut and elsewhere, both in the south and the north—who are currently being tested beyond measure.”

“The convent in Tyre has been converted into a refugee camp, while those in Beirut are desperately striving to assist the civilian population, which has reached its breaking point; there are now one million displaced persons out of a total population of six million,” Father Patton added.

The Franciscan friar warned that “in the aftermath of every recent Middle Eastern conflict, new forms of terrorism have emerged, giving rise to new organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah, and Hamas. All of these were born out of conflicts in the Middle East that were left politically unresolved—the bitter fruit of attempts to impose military solutions upon conflicts that, in reality, required a different approach.”

The Pontiff made his remarks in a March 18 address to participants in a conference organized by the Council of the European Bishops’ Conferences, the Italian Episcopal Conference, and the World Health Organization.

Pope Leo also called for concern the suffering of others, as taught by Christ in the parable of the Good Samaritan, and said that “urgent attention must also be given to people’s mental health, particularly that of young people, because invisible psychological wounds are no less severe than those that are visible.”

At the conclusion of his March 18 general audience, Pope Leo called upon Christians to be instruments of peace, “so that true peace may prevail among all peoples.”