On Thursday, Pope Francis compared Lebanon to a dying person and promised to do everything in his power to help it ‘rise again’ during his meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister.
The Vatican said in a statement that Francis and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who assumed office in September following a year-long government vacuum, met privately for around 20 minutes and discussed the country’s catastrophic economic and social problems.
The aftermath of Lebanon’s financial collapse in 2019 has left large swaths of the country impoverished and foreign donors are seeking an audit of the central bank as well as financial reforms before releasing funds.
United Nations agencies have warned of social disasters, with one report claiming that more than half of households in Lebanon had at least one child who skipped a meal as living conditions deteriorated dramatically.
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