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Around 150,000 people gathered at Beirut’s waterfront for mass with Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday morning, the highlight of the Catholic leader’s visit to the capital, where he delivered a message of hope and peace.The pontiff arrived from Turkey on Sunday on his inaugural visit abroad as pope and brought a message of hope, particularly to young people in Lebanon whose faith in their country has dwindled.He has received a jubilant welcome in a nation beset by a years-long economic collapse and which is still reeling from a war last year between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, with many fearing renewed hostilities.Lebanon, he told the crowd during his homily, is “overshadowed by the many problems that afflict you, 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”.”Let us cast off the armour of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon. A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognise each other as brothers and sisters,” he said.”Everyone must do their part, and we must unite our efforts so that this land can return to its former glory,” he added.Arriving for the service on the last day of his trip, the pope wound his way through the crowd in his popemobile as people offered roses, with senior officials including President Joseph Aoun also in attendance.- ‘Sign of hope’ -“We came with joy to participate in this heavenly celebration,” said Samira Khoury, among some 150,000 people in attendance, according to the Vatican press service, which cited figures from Lebanese authorities.”The pope puts joy and peace in our hearts and strengthens our hope,” Khoury told AFP.Some participants travelled from abroad including from neighbouring Syria, or from further afield like the United States, while migrant workers from countries such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka were also among the excited crowd. “It’s a sign of hope for Lebanon. I can feel the peace already just by seeing the people and how happy they are and I can see hope in their eyes for the future of Lebanon,” said Elias Fadel, 22.”Hopefully there won’t be any war,” he added.Large swathes of the city centre were closed to traffic for the occasion and soldiers deployed on nearby roads.Sandra Naim, 37, said ” I hope that peace will reign in this beautiful country that unites all sects and religions.””We thank the pope for his visit, which sows peace and hope,” she said.Before the service, the pope prayed at the site of a catastrophic port explosion on August 4, 2020 which killed more than 220 people, injured over 6,500 and devastated swathes of the capital.At a monument to those killed, with shipping containers, piles of rubble and the facility’s devastated grain silos visible nearby, the pope lit a lamp after praying silently.He then shook hands, blessed and spoke with survivors and relatives of victims, including children, many of whom were holding photos of their loved ones.- ‘Justice’ -Cecile Roukoz, a lawyer whose brother died in the explosion, said “We are very grateful for this visit from the pope… We know that he raises his voice” for justice “and we need justice for our brothers and all the victims of this explosion”.Nobody has been held to account for the Beirut port blast, one of the largest ever non-nuclear explosions.Pope Leo’s first stop on Tuesday was at a psychiatric hospital run by nuns near the capital, where he was greeted by staff and patients to cheers, applause and a shower of rose petals.An emotional Marie Makhlouf, mother superior of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, thanked the pope for being “a father to the forgotten, the abandoned and the marginalised”.”We cannot forget those who are most fragile,” Pope Leo said, paying tribute to the work of the facility.On Monday, the pontiff urged Christian and Muslim religious leaders to combat intolerance, and received a rock-star welcome from some 15,000 young people, urging them to “be the source of hope that the country is waiting for”.

In makeshift homes lacking even the most basic necessities surrounded by piles of rubbish and flanked by dirt roads, thousands of Somalis in Yemen live in soul-crushing poverty in Aden’s “Little Mogadishu”.Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, is not a destination in itself for migrants but a way station for those leaving East Africa in the hopes of reaching the oil-rich Gulf states and working in construction or as domestic staff.But with security along its borders tight, many struggle to make it out of Yemen. During the day, the men fan out across the city and line the roads looking for work in the de facto capital of government-controlled Yemen, where more than a decade of war has led to mass unemployment and food insecurity. To make ends meet, many search for odd jobs or scavenge rubbish heaps, looking for any food that can be salvaged to feed themselves and their families. “Some days we eat, some days it’s up to God. That’s life,” said Abdullah Omar, a 29-year-old Somali father of four in Aden. Over a year ago, Omar decided to take his chances, shelling out $500 to traffickers to board a boat with his family in hopes of escaping Somalia’s instability and finding a better life abroad. But in Yemen, it has only been misery. To survive, Omar washed cars, making the equivalent of just a few dollars a day.After years working in construction in Mogadishu, Omar had hoped to find better conditions and pay in Yemen — where he had passed through as a teenager en route to Saudi Arabia. But that was before years of civil war killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, destroyed vast amounts of infrastructure and left the country effectively partitioned between the Houthi rebels and Yemen’s internationally recognised government.”Here I have nothing,” he told AFP, while explaining his decision to enrol in a UN programme that paved the way for his repatriation to Somalia.  “There’s no work, no money and no schooling for the children.”- Unemployment -Despite the poor conditions roughly 17,000 Africans arrived in Yemen in October, mostly from nearby Djibouti and Somalia, an increase of 99 percent from the month prior, according to the UN.Somalis make up about 63 percent of the 61,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen, UN data shows.Across Aden, where unemployment is already staggeringly high among Yemenis, African migrants are hard-pressed to gain a foothold.Nearly 19.5 million people in Yemen — more than half its population — are in need of humanitarian aid, including 4.8 million internally displaced people, according to early 2025 UN data.The economic situation has only worsened in recent months due to the currency’s depreciation, the halt of oil exports, and a dearth of international funding.Somalia remains ravaged by its own civil war, with the Islamist insurgents of Al-Shabaab still in control of vast swathes of the country.But relative peace in the capital Mogadishu in recent years has brought a degree of stability and allowed a lucrative construction boom in parts of the city — though the situation remains shaky.- ‘If peace returns’ -According to a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) survey, 56 percent of Somalis who are repatriated cited a “lack of income opportunities” in Yemen as their main reason for returning home.”Many refugees want to go back to Somalia, but they can’t afford smugglers or plane tickets,” said Oweis Al-Azzan, who oversees the head of the UN’s voluntary return programme, which helps migrants.The programme provides families with free transportation and cash to help ease their transition once they are back home. The UN has repatriated more than 500 Somalis so far this year and plans three more flights by the end of the year carrying around 450 more people.Among those set to return is Somali contractor Ahmed Abu Bakr Marzouk, who came to Yemen 25 years ago, where he married twice and started a family.For years he prospered, sending money home regularly and financing the building of two homes in Mogadishu. Then came the war. “For the past three or four years, there’s been no work,” said the 58-year-old. With no relief in sight in Yemen, Marzouk said conditions in Somalia were now more favourable.”My brothers work in farming there. If peace returns, I’ll come back,” he told AFP.”If not, I won’t.”

Thousands of Lebanese faithful were making their way to Beirut’s waterfront ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s mass on Tuesday morning, the highlight of the Catholic leader’s visit to the capital expected to draw huge crowds.Before the service the pope was to pray at the site of a catastrophic port explosion on the final day of his Lebanon visit.The pontiff arrived from Turkey on Sunday on his inaugural visit abroad as pope and brought a message of hope, particularly to young people in Lebanon, whose faith in their beleaguered country has dwindled.His trip has been a welcome distraction in a nation still reeling from a war last year between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, with many fearing renewed hostilities.Pope Leo’s first stop on Tuesday was at a psychiatric hospital run by nuns near the capital, where he was greeted by hospital staff and patients to cheers, applause and shower of rose petals.An emotional Marie Makhlouf, mother superior of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, thanked the pope for being “a father to the forgotten, the abandoned and the marginalised”.She also emphasised the tough conditions in which the facility works to help the “forgotten” despite the collapse of state institutions, particularly since Lebanon’s economic collapse, and a lack of support.Pope Leo paid tribute to the work of the hospital, saying that “what is lived in this place stands as a clear reminder to all.””We cannot forget those who are most fragile. We cannot conceive of a society that races ahead at full speed clinging to the false myths of wellbeing, while at the same time ignoring so many situations of poverty and vulnerability,” he said.More than 120,000 people have registered to attend the mass near Beirut’s waterfront. Large swathes of the city centre have been closed to traffic for the occasion, with soldiers deployed on nearby roads and people streaming towards the mass site since early morning.- Silent prayer -Before the service, Pope Leo is to hold a silent prayer at the site of the August 4, 2020 port explosion which killed more than 220 people, injured over 6,500 and devastated swathes of the capital.He will pay his respects to relatives of victims and survivors who are still fighting for justice in the wake of the disaster, one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions.Authorities have said the blast was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.Nobody has been held responsible for the disaster, with the investigation yet to yield results and political figures obstructing the judge’s work on the case.On Monday, the pontiff called on Christian and Muslim religious leaders gathered for an interreligious meeting to combat intolerance and violence.He also got a rock-star welcome from some 15,000 youth in Bkerke, the seat of the Maronite church, urging them to “be the source of hope that the country is waiting for”.

Raghad al-Fara is struggling to rebuild her teenage life in Athens, not least because she now moves around with crutches because of injuries suffered in the Gaza war.Evacuated from the besieged Palestinian territory in February she now lives in a shelter for refugee women. “I never thought I would survive, let alone set foot on European soil,” the 15-year-old told AFP. Raghad is one of 10 Gazan minors suffering from “complex” orthopaedic and psychological injuries, according to Heracles Moskoff, secretary general for vulnerable persons at the migration ministry. Injured during an Israeli bombing, she was evacuated with her mother Shadia and her younger sister Argwan. The rest of the family — three other children and the father — remain in Gaza.In total, 26 Palestinians arrived in Athens at the end of February, according to the Greek foreign ministry.”When we learned that Greece agreed to host us, it was a relief,” said Shadia al-Fara, the teenager’s mother. – ‘Not just a survivor’ -Sara Al-Sweirki, 20, who now also lives in Athens, is determined to “not just be a survivor.” “I want to be a girl my age like others, learn guitar and piano, and study,” stressed the young woman, who left Gaza in September with her mother and brother.Accepted by the private Deree American College of Greece, al-Sweirki will begin her studies in January. She chose psychology “to help others overcome their traumas,” she said. Raghad could use such expertise. Her mother noted that the teenager still has not received psychological support “even though she wet the bed for months” due to the severe shock she experienced. Raghad was injured in a July 2024 Israeli bombing in the Gaza city of Khan Younis that caused hundreds of casualties. Her right leg and back were crushed under the rubble of a building.”For two months, my daughter was on a respirator and for seven months, bedridden, unable to move,” al-Fara recalled painfully. Upon her arrival in Greece, Raghad was treated by an orthopedist and a physiotherapist at a children’s hospital.But she had to wait months for a support belt, and her mother, a former hairdresser, had to find orthopedic shoes on her own.”Greece took responsibility for us but then abandoned us,” Raghad’s mother said, stating that the Greek state provides no financial assistance.Even though the Palestinian community in Athens has asked the government to host more injured Gazans, there is “no political will” by the conservative Greek government, said Palestinian official Latif Darwesh. “The current government has forgotten its historic friendship with the Palestinian people,” Darwesh said.Many Palestinian students found refuge in Greece in the 1980s, under the socialist administration of Andreas Papandreou, who cultivated close relations with late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.- Popular solidarity -Israel’s tactics used against Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 set off the war, has heightened solidarity towards Palestinians among the Greek population. The government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has yet to recognise a Palestinian state, even though 74 percent of Greeks would support such a move, according to a recent study by aboutpeople, a Greek social research group.Sara al-Sweirki does not know if she will stay in Athens “forever,” though she acknowledges that “the future in Gaza remains very uncertain.” A truce agreement that came into effect on October 10 “does not mean reconstruction,” said Shadia Al-Fara, who has enrolled her daughters in Greek school. “We cannot return to live under tents with the fear of bombings resuming!” said the mother. “My three other children in Gaza ask me to get them out of this hell” but Al-Fara says she feels “powerless” to help them.Sara Al-Sweirki, meanwhile, looks to the future. “My dream was interrupted” after October 7. “But now I am more determined than ever to pursue my goal (of studying),” she said.