Harissa: Lebanon's Christian heartland

(Vatican Radio)Ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in Lebanon Friday on a three day visit, Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure has been travelling through the country to gauge the atmosphere first hand in the buildup to this papal trip.

On Wednesday she travelled to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, a mountain village 20km north of Beirut - Lebanon's Christian heartland - to see for herself the devotion to this Marian Shrine. Tracy described the site as a symbol of unity between Christians and Muslims. “We met some Muslims as well as Christians, of course the Christians looking forward to this visit of Pope Benedict, but you know there were quite a number of Muslims.” On her trip Tracey asked a group of Iraqi Muslims why they had come. They told her that “Mary is revered in Islam”.

Tracey adds that it is very common to see people of these two faiths gathering at this shrine. Listen