Pope Leo expected to visit Lebanon this year
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 underway" 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.
In public remarks he has called for peace in the Middle East and a ceasefire in Gaza after the strip's only Catholic church was bombed by Israel, killing three people.
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