Rachelle Mazraani is travelling from Sydney to Beirut for Pope Leo XIV's visit this week, one of many Lebanese at home and abroad who hope the trip will revive their struggling country.

After visiting Turkey, Leo is to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday for a three-day trip that includes an open-air mass at Beirut's waterfront that organisers expect to draw 120,000 people.

He will also hold a special meeting with those aged 16 to 35 in Bkerke, north of Beirut, where the patriarchate of Lebanon's Maronite Church is located.

"As a young Lebanese woman living abroad, this visit represents a deep reassurance that Lebanon is not forgotten," the Australian-born Mazraani, 23, who works in sales and marketing, told AFP by telephone.

She is among some 500 young people from church delegations from several countries who will attend the pope's youth meeting on Monday.

Leo's visit "reminds us that Lebanon still has a mission in this region, a spiritual identity that cannot be erased by crisis or conflict", she said, adding that it urges "us not to lose faith in who we are or in what Lebanon can still become".

The small Mediterranean country has faced waves of crisis and conflict........

© Al Monitor