Beirut: His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and his accompanying delegation arrived at Rafik Hariri International Airport at 3:45 PM today, where he was received upon his plane's arrival by the Director General of Protocol and Public Relations at the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Nabil Chedid, and the Papal Nuncio, Paolo Borgia. At the end of the steps to the plane, the Pope was welcomed by President Joseph Aoun and First Lady Nemat Aoun. After exchanging greetings with the President and his wife, the Pope shook hands with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and greeted his wife, Randa Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his wife, Sahar Baassiri Salam, and Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi.
According to National News Agency - Lebanon, two cancer-surviving children from the CCCL center presented the Pope with a bouquet of roses and a tray carrying soil from southern Lebanon, bread from its mountains, and salt from its north as a welcome token representing the Lebanese land and heritage. Afterwards, His Holiness the Pope, the President of the Republic, and the First Lady of Lebanon proceeded to the main platform where His Holiness shook hands with the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East for the Melkite Greek Catholics, Joseph I Absi, the Patriarch of the House of Cilicia for the Armenian Catholics, Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian, and the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholics, Ignatius Joseph III Younan.
After the Vatican and Lebanese national anthems were played and the official honors were performed, the Pope shook hands with the Lebanese delegation welcoming him at the airport. The delegation included Lebanon's Ambassador to the Vatican Fadi Assaf, Deputy House Speaker Elias Bou Saab, Foreign Affairs Minister Youssef Rajji, and members of the Parliament's Bureau, Deputies Alain Aoun, Hadi Abou Hosn, Hagop Pakradounian, Michel Moussa, and Abdel Karim Mohammad Kabbara, Governor of Mount Lebanon Mohammad Makkawi, and Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal.
Following a short rest in the presidential lounge at the airport, Pope Leo XIV's delegation set off towards the Presidential Palace. The roads were decorated with Lebanese and Vatican flags, and several Lebanese men and women lined both sides of the road leading to the palace to welcome His Holiness in Lebanon. Earlier, upon the Pope's plane entering into Lebanese airspace, a squadron of the Lebanese Air Force escorted the aircraft, while Lebanese naval vessels sounded their horns, and a 21-gun salute was fired by the army as the plane landed at Beirut airport. Several Lebanese men and women, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags, were present to welcome His Holiness, while the main hall of the airport was adorned with white daffodils and incense was burned throughout the hall.