(OSV News) -- As Christians of the southern Lebanese village of Debel were not able to spend Easter in their homes and churches, and the Vatican humanitarian convoy was not able to reach them, Pope Leo XIV sent a consoling message to a shattered community on April 7.
The pope expressed "his paternal closeness and tenderness" in the "dramatic circumstances" the people of the village "are experiencing."
Signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and published in French, the message said the pope "extends his message of consolation and compassion to all Christians in South Lebanon and to all those suffering the consequences of the war."
"Today, we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord," Pope Leo said. "May you, amidst feelings of sorrow, anguish, and mourning, experience a deeper joy in your hearts today: Jesus has gloriously triumphed over death. It is a joy that comes from heaven and that nothing can take from you."
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, and over 1 million residents have been displaced from their homes since the beginning of Israel-Hezbollah hostilities as part of the U.S. and Israel-Iran war.
On April 5, an Israeli strike on an apartment east of Beirut killed a local official from a Christian political party, Pierre Moawad, and his wife, Flavia, Reuters reported.
Ahead of Easter, a convoy carrying over 40 tons of aid led by the Vatican was supposed to reach Debel, but was canceled for what Lebanon’s Maronite Church said was "security reasons," The Associated Press reported.
War took a heavy toll among Lebanese Christians, with a Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest killed in southern Lebanon when an Israeli artillery tank fired on a house March 9. Father Pierre al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, had earlier refused, along with other priests, to obey an order by the Israeli military to evacuate the Christian village of Qlayaa, a Maronite village of some 8,000 inhabitants in the Marjayoun district, a few miles from the Israeli border.
"Today, you understand what the cross means, not as an idea, not as a concept, but because you are going through it," Maronite Father Dori Fayyad of the Alma al-Shaab Christian village in southern Lebanon told displaced Christians, spending their Easter in a Beirut suburb, beside a cardboard cutout depicting the church in their village, The Associated Press reported.
"These churches in these villages are not only places of worship," he said. "They are silent witnesses to suffering and to faith," AP quoted the priest as saying.
Lebanon remains home to the largest Christian population in the Arab world with one third of 5.5 million Lebanese being Christian.
"In your misfortune, in the injustice you suffer, in the feeling of abandonment you experience, you are very close to Jesus," the pope told Lebanese Christians in his message.
"You are close to Him also on this Easter day when He has conquered the forces of evil, and which resonates for you as a promise of the future," he said.
"Do not lose heart! None of your prayers, none of your acts of solidarity, none of your sighs of weariness that you express is lost: Our Lady of Lebanon keeps everything in her heart and carries it to her Son. Pope Leo XIV gives each of you, and all those you love, the Apostolic Blessing."
Pope Leo visited Lebanon during his first apostolic trip, right after Turkey, Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
Throughout his stay in Lebanon, the pope repeatedly called for peace, justice and a concerted effort by all Lebanese to build a better future for themselves and their families.
"The Middle East needs new approaches in order to reject the mindset of revenge and violence, to overcome political, social and religious divisions, and to open new chapters in the name of reconciliation and peace," he said after Mass and before praying the Angelus Dec. 2. "We need to change course. We need to educate our hearts for peace."
