VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis warned Wednesday that Lebanon faced "extreme danger that threatens the very existence of the country" following last month's massive explosion.
The leader of the Catholic Church focused on the disaster-hit country almost a month after the huge blast in the Beirut harbor ripped through the city, killing more than 180 people and wounding at least 6,500.
"Lebanon cannot be abandoned to its solitude," the pope said at his first limited audience with the public in six months because of the coronavirus crisis.
"A month after the tragedy... my thoughts are still with dear Lebanon and its particularly hard-pressed population," Francis said, holding a Lebanese flag brought to the audience by a young priest.
"Faced with the repeated tragedies that each of the inhabitants of this land knows, we realize the extreme danger that threatens the very existence of this country," he said.
