BEIRUT — Thousands of people gathered Tuesday near Beirut’s destroyed port where Pope Leo XIV celebrated a waterfront Mass. It was an extraordinary end to his first international trip as head of the Roman Catholic Church, which he used to deliver a message of peace to a tumultuous region.

From the outset, the day was laden with symbolism.

The pope began with a visit to patients and staff at a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital. He then offered a silent prayer near the site of the Beirut port explosion of 2020, where hundreds were killed and thousands injured when some 2,750 tons of military-grade ammonium nitrate combusted.

The pope also met with families of those killed in the explosion, many of them still waiting for officials to be held accountable.

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