Among them was a student from our schools:
on the occasion of Pope Leo XIV’s historic visit, the magazine L’Orient-Le Jour launched an appeal to high schools in Lebanon to write a letter to the pope.
Thanks to the efforts of principals, schools, and teachers, the magazine received several dozen letters from all corners of Lebanon. Their authors are between 15 and 18 years old.
Their letters deeply impressed the magazine’s editorial staff with their sincerity and broad horizons, which are both intimate and collective. All of them are imbued with a spirit of brotherhood and hope, despite the weight of the wounds, anxieties, and disillusionment that these generations are experiencing.
It was not easy to choose among all the participants: the magazine finally selected five texts that seemed most emblematic of what this generation wants to say not only to the Pope but to each of us; a generation that refuses to be mere spectators of a destiny already mapped out, that seeks to understand, to act, and to commit itself; that upholds the values of openness, dialogue, and unity; a youth that challenges us with its surprising lucidity.
Lebanon will not rise again without them.”
This is what journalist Abdoul Malak wrote in the magazine Orient-Le Jour on Saturday, November 29.
Among the five letters selected is one from a student at our Sainte-Anne school in Besançon, Beirut, which we reproduce here.
Your Holiness, dear Pope Leo XIV,
As a student at Sainte-Anne School in Besançon, Beirut, a school that is part of the network of Catholic schools in Lebanon, and on behalf of many young Lebanese people, I would like to extend my most respectful greetings to you on the occasion of your visit to our country.
When I learned that Your Holiness would be visiting us in Lebanon, my heart was filled with great emotion. It was a moment of profound joy and hope for me. Your presence among us has a profound meaning, both spiritual and human, and touches all the communities that make up Lebanon.
I am a Muslim and I write to you with sincerity, motivated by a desire for national unity and coexistence.
Your words, your commitment to peace, as well as the Christian and moral values you bring with you, such as charity, brotherhood, justice, and compassion, resonate far beyond a single community. They echo in the hearts of many Lebanese, whether they are Christian, Muslim, or of other traditions.
As a young Lebanese, I would like to humbly share with you several wishes and requests: first and foremost, to keep Lebanon, our beloved country, in your prayers, especially as we are experiencing one of the most complex and critical situations in our history. Your blessing has the power to heal our wounds and restore the stability we so desperately need, which is vital for our growth. We need to believe in our country again, in an uncompromising need to belong.
Being originally from southern Lebanon, I would have liked you to visit some villages such as Cana, Tyre, and Maghdouché, symbols of the coexistence and cohabitation that make our country of the Cedar unique. However, I understand the security reasons that determined the choice of places to visit.
Your visit reminds us of the power of peace as a moral foundation and the value of forgiveness, service, and human dignity. It invites us young Lebanese to overcome our wounds, to reject fear of the other, and to build together a society based on trust and mutual understanding. In a country where every word counts, your messages of hope reinforce the conviction that solidarity between communities remains our only path to stability. Your presence among us reminds us that peace is not a distant ideal, but a daily responsibility.
We see in your presence an encouragement to revive the bridges between religions, to protect the coexistence that has shaped Lebanon’s identity, and to preserve the spirit of brotherhood that unites our families, our schools, and our neighborhoods. Needless to say, the timing of your visit is in itself a miracle that will have repercussions on our multi-confessional country.
Thanking you for the attention you devote to Lebanon and for the prayers you offer for it, I extend to you, Your Holiness, my most heartfelt greetings.
Akil MHANNA
Sainte-Anne Besançon
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret of the Eastern Province participated in the Pope’s visit to Lebanon:
