Beirut, Lebanon: city awaits Pope Benedict XVI

(Vatican Radio) (Vatican Radio) Anticipation is high in Lebanon ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled arrival this Friday, September 14th. Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure is in Beirut, and shared some of her impressions of the city as it awaits its guest. She described a city that has spared no effort to put its best foot forward and to give the Holy Father a warm and fitting welcome. “We came in on September 11^th, and it was very quiet by Beirut standards – not as much traffic as I have been used to seeing,” she explained (Tracey McClure has extensive experience in the region – ed.). McClure went on to say, “It’s a lot cleaner than I remember Beirut being, with posters lining the main highway, which takes you from the airport into the centre of town.” Listen:

Tracey also gave us a preview of Wednesday evening’s main event: an inter-religious pilgrimage of prayer. “It’s going to be uniting Christians and Muslims from across the ‘Green Line’,” which separated the Christians and Muslims during the 1975-1990 civil war. “[Wendesday]’s prayer vigil,” she explained, “[is] an opportunity for people to say, ‘No, we are not willing to let that barrier separate us today!’.”