Pope Leo XIV is expected to visit Lebanon this year in what could be his first foreign trip as pontiff.
Patriarch Bechara Rai, the head of Lebanon's Maronite Church, said Pope Leo will travel to Lebanon “by December”. He told Al Arabiya that “preparations are already under way” for the visit.
Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the US, was elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, and has yet to make a papal visit abroad.
Last month he suggested he could visit Turkey when commemorations are held to mark 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea. The meeting in the year 325, in what is now Iznik in Turkey, settled key aspects of Christian doctrine.
Pope Francis had been invited to Turkey for the occasion. It is not clear whether a Lebanon visit might be combined with that.
Pope Leo has publicly called for peace in the Middle East and a ceasefire in Gaza after the strip's only Catholic church was bombed by Israel, killing several people.
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An estimated 30 per cent of Lebanon's population are Christians. The Maronite Church is in communion with Rome, and President Joseph Aoun is a Maronite Christian.
After Pope Leo's election, Mr Aoun wished him success in “efforts to spread the message of love and peace throughout the world, and to promote dialogue between different religions and cultures”. The two men met at the Vatican in June.
Pope Leo also expressed solidarity with Lebanon when it marked five years since the Beirut port explosion this month. "The beloved and suffering Lebanon remains at the centre of his prayers," read a message from the Vatican.
Foreign travel has become an essential part of the modern papacy, with masses typically drawing huge crowds. Pope Francis made 47 visits abroad during his 12-year tenure, travelling to 68 countries.
His 2019 visit to the UAE was the first by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula. Two years later he made a landmark visit to Mosul in Iraq, visiting areas scarred by ISIS rule.
