• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis receives a gift during a meeting at the Vatican with family members of victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion Aug. 26. 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope calls for ‘truth and justice’ for 2020 Beirut port explosion

August 27, 2024
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Uncategorized

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Four years after the catastrophic explosion that rocked the port of Beirut, killing some 220 people and injuring more than 6,000 others, Pope Francis joined Lebanese families in calling for an investigation into the deadly blast.

Meeting with the family members of victims of the Aug. 4, 2020, explosion, the pope said he supported their call for “truth and justice which have not yet arrived.”

“All of us know that the issues are complex and difficult, and that opposing powers and interests make their influence felt. Yet truth and justice must prevail over all else,” he said Aug. 26.

Pope Francis poses for a photo with family members of victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion during a meeting at the Vatican, Aug. 26. 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

The explosion occurred when approximately 2,750 of tons of ammonium nitrate, a combustible chemical typically used as an agricultural fertilizer, ignited in a Beirut port warehouse, razing large swaths of the Lebanese capital. An investigation launched following the blast has largely been scuttled by government officials.

“Four years have gone by; the Lebanese people, and you above all, have a right to words and actions that manifest responsibility and transparency,” Pope Francis told the families of the blast victims.

Meeting the families one day after Israel and Hezbollah exchanged airstrikes across the Israel-Lebanon border, the pope expressed his sadness at Lebanon’s entanglement in the war in the Middle East.

“With you, I also feel the pain of witnessing once again the great number of innocent people daily losing their lives because of the war in your region, in Palestine and Israel, for which Lebanon is paying a price,” he said. “Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is always a failure, a failure of politics, a failure of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil.”

Pope Francis prayed for peace in the Middle East and asked that Lebanon remain “a project for peace.”

Lebanon’s “vocation,” he said, “is to be a land where diverse communities live together in concord, setting the common good above individual advantage, a land where different religions and confessions encounter one another in a spirit of fraternity.”

Pope Francis has often pointed to Lebanon as an example of religious pluralism. According to an independent study cited the U.S. State Department, 67.8 percent of Lebanon’s population is Muslim, with near equal parts Sunni and Shiite, and 32.4 percent is Christian, with Maronite Catholics as the largest group of Christians followed by Greek Orthodox.

By convention, some roles in the government are reserved to members of a specific religious group: typically, the presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister’s office for a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament for a Shiite Muslim.

The pope thanked members of the church in Lebanon who remain close to the Lebanese people. “You are not alone, and we will never abandon you,” he told the blast victims’ families, “but (we) express our solidarity with you through prayer and concrete works of charity.”

Read More Vatican News

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Pope, Palestinian president discuss humanitarian tragedy in Gaza during phone call

Pope condemns Israel’s attack against church, calls for end to ‘barbarity’

Pope: Summer marks time to balance busyness with rest, prayer, joy with loved ones

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Justin McLellan

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

| CURRENT EDITION |

CR digital edition

| Vatican News |

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Pope, Palestinian president discuss humanitarian tragedy in Gaza during phone call

Pope condemns Israel’s attack against church, calls for end to ‘barbarity’

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

Catholic ‘American Ninja Warrior’ fights world hunger, one obstacle at a time

Movie Review: ‘Smurfs’

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Movie Review: ‘Eddington’

NBC’s Tom Llamas says Catholic education deepened his faith, pushed him to always do his best

| En español |

‘No tengan miedo de hacer lo que El Señor quiere para nosotros’

Dios quiere ayudar a las personas a descubrir su valor y dignidad, dice el Papa

El ‘Padre Migrante’ nos relata su vida sirviendo a comunidades inmigrantes

El ‘Obispo Bruce’ forjó fuertes lazos con Baltimore en tiempos difíciles y tenía corazón de pastor

El Papa León comienza su pontificado pidiendo una ‘Iglesia unida’ en un mundo herido

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives
  • Our faith is not afraid of questions

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en