Benedict XVI will visit Lebanon from the 14th to the 16th September.
The announcement
was made in two separate statements by the Presidency of the Republic of Lebanon and
the Lebanese Bishop’s Office for Communications on the very day the Pope appealed
for peace in the Middle East and the Holy Land. A call to end the violence in the
region the Holy Father made during the traditional Easter ‘’Urbi and Orbi’ message.
According to these statements during this visit the Pope will hand over and
sign the Post- synodal Apostolic Exhortation for the Middle East in the nation’s
capital Beirut, during Holy Mass on the 16th September.
This document
is the result of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East
which took place in the Vatican from the 10th to the 24th of
October 2010.
Other events outlined for the visit in the communiqués are meetings
with civil and religious authorities as well as with young people.
The visit
is described by the Press Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Lebanon as one
: “ which will confirm the deep seated historical relations uniting Lebanon and
the Holy See, allowing to reaffirm the statute, role and mission of Lebanon as witness
of freedom and friendship”
It marks the second to the region for Benedict XVI
who visited Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories in May 2009 .