Papal Visit
Pope John Paul II visited the shrine when he made an official visit to Lebanon on May 10, 1997. He conducted a mass in the modern Basilica. On December 8, 1998, the Vatican announced that the World Day of the Sick would be celebrated on February 11, 1999 at Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa. Pope John Paul II prayed that Our Lady of Lebanon who had watched over the agonizing suffering of the Lebanese people could help all those who were suffering in the world.
Pope Benedict XVI launched an appeal for peace in Lebanon and Gaza by invoking the protection Our Lady of Lebanon on January 28, 2007. He said, "To Christians in Lebanon, I repeat the exhortation to be promoters of real dialogue between the various communities, and upon everyone I invoke the protection of Our Lady of Lebanon."
The Papal Embassy as well as the residences of four Eastern Rite cardinals of the Roman Catholic church are in the vicinity of Harissa and Our Lady of Lebanon.
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of Lebanon
Famous quotes containing the word visit:
“The American, if he has a spark of national feeling, will be humiliated by the very prospect of a foreigner’s visit to Congress—these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage, these persons are a reflection on the democratic process rather than of it; they expose it in its process rather than of it; they expose it in its underwear.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)