By Dana Khraiche, Rima S. Aboulmona
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Lebanon’s capital Beirut Friday, in the third-ever visit by a Roman Catholic prelate to this Mediterranean country; the three-day sojourn comes amid a deadly conflict in Syria and violence in several Arab countries over an anti-Islam film.

Speaking to reporters on his Alitalia flight to Lebanon, the pope called for a halt to weapons imports to Syria which he said were a “grave sin.”

The Holy See also said he was not afraid to visit Lebanon and described the Arab Spring that has already removed four long-serving dictators as “positive.”

“It is the desire for more democracy, for more freedom, for more cooperation and for a renewed Arab identity,” the pope said.

He warned against the risk that the push for more freedom could end intolerance for other religions.

The Catholic pope, the head of a church with over 1 billion followers, denounced religious fundamentalism, calling it “a falsification of religion.”

Church bells throughout the country tolled in celebration as the pontiff walked out of the plane at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut.

With a red carpet rolled out to meet the pope’s airplane, an Airbus 320, Sleiman walked beside the pontiff to a wooden podium specially constructed for them and sat on a pair of burgundy-upholstered wooden chairs.

A band played Lebanon’s national anthem and a 21-gun salute was fired in honor of the pontiff, who turned 85 in April of this year.

At the podium, President Michel Sleiman expressed hope the pope’s visit would bring good to Lebanon and the region.

“We hope that your visit will bring good to Lebanon, the people of this region and their countries including Christians of the East,” Sleiman, the only Christian head of state in the Arab world, said in a speech.

The pope was greeted upon his arrival at Beirut airport by Sleiman, the first lady, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati and their wives. Thirty other officials were present at the airport to welcome the pope, including Lebanon’s top religious leaders and security and diplomatic figures.

“Today, Lebanon’s family with all its components and factions welcome your holiness,” Sleiman said at the podium.

“You decided to choose Lebanon as a message of love to the people of this region via the Apostolic Exhortation of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East,” the president said.

Benedict, for his part, praised Lebanon’s efforts to maintain dialogue among religions and described the country as an “example of coexistence in the Middle East and the world.”

The religious leader said his visit aimed at delivering the synod, which he described as a road map for Christians for years to come, and consecrating the work of the Maronite Church.

The prelate also expressed sympathy over what he described as the painful events that Lebanon has gone through as well as events in the region.

At the end of the speech, the pontiff rode a presidential limousine headed to Harissa, northeast of Beirut, where the Papal Embassy is located.

Vatican and Lebanese flags in addition to welcoming banners of all kinds lined the streets on which the pope’s motorcade traveled on its way to Harissa.

“We love you,” read some of the placards held by Lebanese eager to see the pope.

On the airport road, yellow Hezbollah banners bearing the pontiff’s image and the words “Welcome to the homeland of the resistance” hung from electricity pylons.

Triumphal arches were also erected on the streets along which the pope’s convoy will pass during his travel in Lebanon.

Benedict is scheduled to visit St. Paul’s Basilica in Harissa at 6 p.m. where he is scheduled to sign the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops.

Traffic will be prohibited on the seaside road between the Dbayyeh and Karantina bridges between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time. Trucks were also banned on the streets from 6 a.m. Friday till midnight Sunday and cars will not be able to park on the route the pope takes to Harissa between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Beirut looked “united,” all the way from the Beirut airport road through the suburbs, into the heart of the capital and up to Kesrouan in the Metn region and Baabda, wrote the local newspaper An-Nahar in its front page article Friday.

Pope Benedict’s visit comes as the Syria crisis further deteriorates, with deadly clashes between government forces and rebels. It also comes as the region braces for an escalation of protests over an anti-Islam film.

In Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, a demonstrator, part of a mass protest against “Innocence of Muslims,” was killed Friday in a trade of gunfire with police.

Fifteen members of the Internal Security Forces were also injured in the protest, which also saw demonstrators ripping billboards of the pope’s visit to the country.

Protests against the film, deemed offensive by Muslims and slammed by the White House, have taken place in several countries in the region, including Yemen and Egypt. U.S. embassies have been target of these protests.

Security in the country has been increased for the visit of the Holy See.

Some 5,000 members of a special security force that includes police and Lebanese Army troops deployed at all entrances to Beirut and in locations and routes the pope will frequent during his three-day visit, a security source told The Daily Star.

The source said the security force is being supervised by the Presidential Guard Unit, which is directly in charge of the pope’s safety.

Benedict XVI is the third pope to visit Lebanon after Paul VI in 1964 (for an airport stopover and press conference) and John Paul II in 1997.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Sep-14/187894-pope-arrives-in-lebanon-amid-mideast-turmoil.ashx#ixzz26SUjyJys
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)