Ruth Sherlock

Lebanon's political class has been accused of vast corruption.

To this day, no single senior Lebanese official has been convicted over the port explosion.

Standing beside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Pope Leo said Lebanese leaders must seek truth for, quote, those who have suffered wrongs and injustice.

He said reconciliation must come from the top, with leaders setting aside their interests and recognising, quote, the common good as superior to the particular.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Beirut.

Speaking to journalists on the Papal Plain at the end of his visit to Turkey, Pope Leo said the country under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule is, quote, one example of what we would all be looking for throughout the world.

Pope Leo did acknowledge that Turkey has had, quote, various moments when it was not always the case.

But the remarks will be seen as tone deaf by human rights advocates in the face of Turkey's 40-year conflict with the Kurds and President Erdogan's erosion of Turkish democracy, which has also been felt acutely by Turkey's religious minorities.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Beirut.

This is the most diplomatically thorny part of Pope Leo's trip.

He steps into a heated and complex political environment where lots of competing groups have their own hopes and expectations for this papal visit.

For example, Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia,

has called upon the Pope to express his, quote, rejection to the injustice and aggression of continued Israeli airstrikes against the group despite a ceasefire.

And some Lebanese hope Pope Leo can hold Lebanon's political class to account for the vast corruption in the country and over the explosion in 2020 when large stores of ammonium nitrate triggered a blast that devastated the capital, Beirut.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, on the Papal Plain to Lebanon.

This was the first time Pope Leo has visited a Muslim place of worship since he became the leader of the Catholic Church.

He removed his shoes as is customary for entering the vast religious space.

He walked in white socks across the red carpeted floor as he was given a tour by the mosque's imam and the mufti of Istanbul.

The imam told reporters he invited Leo to pray, but the Pope declined.

The Vatican said in a statement afterwards that, quote, the Pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer.