Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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In an informal question-and-answer session with reporters who accompanied him on his return flight to Rome from Beirut on December 2, Pope Leo XIV:

• Told about his reaction when, during the papal conclave, he realized that he would be elected: “I took a deep breath. I said, ‘Here we go, Lord. You’re in charge and you lead the way.”
• Hinted that the Vatican is engaged in secret talks with Hezbollah, hoping to promote peace in Lebanon. “Our work is not something we announce publicly,” he said.
• Discouraged US military intervention in Venezuela. “I believe it’s better to look for ways of dialogue, perhaps pressure—including economic pressure,” he recommended.
• Disclosed that he hopes to visit Africa in 2026, with a particular interest in traveling to Algeria, where St. Augustine served as Bishop of Hippo. He also expressed interest in traveling to South America, possibly visiting Peru, where he had served as bishop, and Argentina. (Oddly, Pope Francis, a native of Argentina, never visited that country as Pontiff.)
• Urged the people of Europe and North America to be “a little less fearful” of Muslim immigration.

“Departing is often more difficult than arriving,” Pope Leo XIV said as he prepared to leave Lebanon on December 2, concluding the first international trip of his pontificate.

On his final day in Lebanon the Pope visited a hospital, prayed silently at the site of the devastating explosion at the port of Beirut, and celebrated Mass at the city’s waterfront for a congregation estimated at 150,000.

“The beauty of your country is also overshadowed by the many problems that afflict you,” the Pope told his Lebanese congregation. Among those problems he listed “the fragile and often unstable political context, the dramatic economic crisis that weighs heavily upon you and the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.” He encouraged them to respond with “a transformation of the heart, a conversion of life and a realization that God has made us precisely to live in the light of faith, the promise of hope, and the joy of charity.”

Pope Leo said that he had traveled to Lebanon as “a pilgrim of hope, imploring God for the gift of peace.” He urged the nation’s people to work and pray for peace, saying that “the Middle East needs new approaches, in order to reject the mindset of revenge and violence.”

Later in the afternoon the Pontiff traveled to the Beirut airport, where Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun joined him for a farewell ceremony before the return flight to Rome.

Gunmen attacked a Protestant church in a Nigerian village on November 30 and kidnapped 12 people, including the pastor and his wife.

The Cherubim and Seraphim Church is located in Ejiba, a village in Nigeria’s Kogi State.

Today the Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Bibiana (died c. 361) who was martyred at Rome under Julian the Apostate around the year 361.