Pope Francis postpones his visit to Lebanon from next month, for health reasons.
Pope Francis has postponed his visit to Lebanon, originally scheduled for June, for health reasons, Lebanese Tourism Minister Walid Nassar announced on Monday.
“Lebanon has received a letter from the Vatican officially informing it of the decision to postpone the Pope’s planned visit to Lebanon,” Nassar said in a statement carried by the National News Agency (ANI).
The “visits abroad (…) have been postponed for health reasons”, he said.
The Lebanese presidency announced in April that it had been informed of a visit by the pope to Lebanon in June, but the Vatican had not confirmed this trip.
The 85-year-old pope, who suffers from knee pain, was first seen in a wheelchair at a public event last week.
Multiple messages of support for Lebanon
The sovereign pontiff also suffers from hip pain which makes him limp and underwent a delicate colon operation in July 2021, after which he also had to use a wheelchair.
The pope’s visit to Lebanon would have been the third by a sitting pontiff since the end of the civil war in 1990.
Lebanon, home to one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East, has been mired in an unprecedented economic and social crisis since 2019, with more than 80% of the population now living below the UN poverty line. .
In recent months, François has multiplied messages of support for Lebanon and has expressed his intention to go there on several occasions.