Middle East: in the footsteps of Leo XIV

A high-risk trip

Robert Francis Prevost aka Leo XIV, the first "made in the USA" pope, chose the Middle East (Turkey and Lebanon) for his inaugural trip abroad. Since October 7, 2023, the Middle East has been going through the darkest hours of its history.

What can the Pope do in the face of this tragedy? Will he rise to the challenge? This is the central question posed by this trip. By choosing to take his first steps on the international stage, Leo XIV is exposing himself to a most delicate exercise: the lack of scope of his voice is likely to become apparent. But isn't this Pope, by definition, condemned to powerlessness in the face of the escalating Arab-Israeli conflict? With this conflict having reached an unprecedented level of violence in recent months, the "pax vaticana" drawn up in the arcana of the apostolic palaces now seems out of reach in this Holy Land, which is so precious to Rome.

Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's on the evening of May 8, 2025, preaching a message of peace, a peace implored "for all", and which he defined a little later as a "disarmed and disarming" peace. This incantation to peace, chanted from appearance to appearance, has become a leitmotif. In much the same way as Pope Francis had established himself as the pastor of a "poor Church for the poor", his successor has chosen peace as his motto in this first quarter of a 21stcentury marked by an explosion of conflicts around the world.

Responding on November 26 in Castel Gandolfo to a journalist's question about the message he might deliver to Israel and Hezbollah, in the context of the resumption of Israeli strikes on Lebanese soil, Leo XIV recalled that he urged everyone to "abandon the use of arms as a means of solving problems", calling instead for all peoples to gather around the same table "to dialogue and work together to find solutions to the problems that affect us". I believe," he added, "that we must work together to seek greater unity, respect for all peoples and all religions.

This message, however, comes up against the reality of the Middle East. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who took part in the days organized in Rome in mid-November by the Community of Sant'Egidio, recognized this behind the scenes: the two parties, Israelis and Palestinians, can no longer even talk to each other, even outside the media. The situation has never been more serious," admitted this Hebrew-speaking Italian cardinal, a man considered for this reason to be a religious authority capable of bridging the gap between Israelis and Palestinian Christians.

In the face of such a situation, Pope Leo's "prophetic" voice, that voice of the man in white calling for peace against all odds, can be seen as totally out of touch. Yet it is not the only line on the Holy See's partition in this region. The Vatican's number 2, …