Papal Visit to Lebanon only six weeks away

Preparations are continuing for Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic visit in Lebanon, which is just 6 weeks away. The Holy Father will travel to the country from September 14-16, and deliver the Post-synodal Exhortation for the Middle East Synod.

The preparations are “at many levels: material preparing, and moral and psychological preparing,” said Archbishop Paul Boulos Matar of Beirut. “In the government, everybody is trying to keep the country quiet, and to prepare an atmosphere of reconciliation and brotherhood in order to receive the Pope as a united people.”

He told Vatican Radio a mass media campaign will also be used.

“We are preparing people by a campaign on television and we will start at the beginning of August to prepare them about every event that will occur,” he said.

Listen to the full interview by Alessandro Gisotti with Archbishop Matar: