The Latest: Pope Leo ends first foreign trip with silent prayer at Beirut blast site, Mass at port

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Pope Leo XIV will offer a silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion as he wraps up his first foreign trip to Turkey and Lebanon on Tuesday.

He also will meet with relatives of some of the 218 victims of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020. The explosion tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.

No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest crisis after decades of corruption and financial crimes. When he arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, Leo urged the country’s political leaders to pursue the truth as a means of peace and reconciliation in the country.

Leo sought to bring a message of peace to Lebanon as it copes with years of economic and political crises.

The American pope opened his final day with a visit to the De La Croix hospital, which specializes in care for people with psychological problems, and was expected to close with a Mass along the Beirut waterfront before returning to Rome.

On Monday, he presided over a gathering of Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders, celebrating the country’s interfaith coexistence as a potent message of peace in the conflict-plagued region.

Here is the latest:

Pope Leo XIV will offer a silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Leo also was expected to meet with relatives of some of the 218 victims of the blast, which tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.

Five years on, no official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest crisis after decades of corruption and financial crimes.