Pope Leo has called for “coexistence” during the second day of his visit to Lebanon, gathering clerics from across the religious spectrum on both sides of a former civil war dividing line, and appealing for unity in a region fractured by violence.

Standing in Martyrs’ Square on Monday, a site that once marked the “green line” dividing Muslim west and Christian east Beirut during the 1975–90 civil war, Leo said Lebanon showed that “fear, distrust and prejudice do not have the final word”.

“In an age when coexistence can seem like a distant dream, the people of Lebanon, while embracing different religions, stand as a powerful reminder that … unity, reconciliation, and peace are possible,” he said.

“May every bell toll; every adhan, every call to prayer blend into a single, soaring hymn,”

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