On the occasion of the Pope’s Lebanon visit, Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday, presenting the country as a bridge of interfaith coexistence, urging protection of human rights at the level of peoples, condemning atrocities in Gaza and aggression in Lebanon, and reaffirming commitment to national sovereignty, consensual democracy, and unified living.

The resistance group's full message to Pope Leo XIV:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church in the world,
Pope Leo XIV, most esteemed.

Greetings and peace be upon you.

At the outset, we express our full welcome and high appreciation for your esteemed person, and for the visit you have devoted to Lebanon; this beautiful country that God has blessed with its geographic position and orderly sectarian diversity, within a framework of shared living and general consensus—two essential features for the stability of its political system and national security.

Your predecessor, Pope John Paul II, previously considered Lebanon “not merely a country, but a message.” The reality confirms that Lebanon, with its diverse composition, represents a civilizational link between the followers of the two divine messages, Christianity and Islam, and between followers of religious, cultural, and secular orientations in all countries and continents of the world.

When the human being is the focus of concern for all religions—and even for secular ideological orientations—one can be hopeful and optimistic about the possibility of achieving lasting peace and security.

As we read in your guidance and messages a firm commitment to human rights and the necessity of respecting and protecting them, we affirm that those rights transcend the individual aspect to a broader sphere: the sphere of peoples.

Regarding the conflicts the world witnesses today, the deeper cause is the disavowal by some of any commitment or recognition of the rights of the other human being, whether due to differences in religion, color, race, language, or interests.

It is no secret that the erosion of respect for human rights among some—whether leaders, groups, parties, sects, states, or organizations—nourishes and feeds tendencies of greed, domination, and subjugation, and the resort to force instead of appealing to justice.

The tragedy witnessed in Gaza in occupied Palestine over the past two years—and continuing—is a tragedy resulting from the occupiers’ persistence in stripping the Palestinian people of their rights to their land, homeland, and self-determination, and from the international system’s failure to adopt the measure of justice and right to find a solution to the ongoing conflict in our region—between the owner of the land and homeland and the occupying usurper of both.

Likewise, the suffering experienced by the Lebanese people—due to the Zionist occupation of parts of their land, the continuation of its attacks against them, and the threat to their security and stability in their own country—arises from greed to dominate their waters, land, and gas wealth, and from attempts to impose upon the Lebanese submission to its boundless security, expansionist, and political conditions.

Without doubt, the Zionist occupation—very regrettably—enjoys unlimited support from major powers that share its tendency toward domination and greed for the interests of our country and region, without any regard for the rights of our people and the peoples of the region.

What the Israeli enemy has perpetrated in Gaza against the Palestinian people is a described crime of genocide; and what it is doing in Lebanon is an ongoing aggression that is rejected and condemned.

We in Hezbollah seize the opportunity of your blessed visit to our country, Lebanon, to affirm, on our part, our commitment to unified shared living; to consensual democracy; to preserving internal security and stability; and to our care for national sovereignty and its protection, by standing with our army and our people to confront any aggression or occupation of our land and country.

We also affirm our legitimate right to reject foreign interference that seeks to impose its tutelage over our country and people, and to confiscate our national decision and the powers of our constitutional authorities.

And as our creed confirms that the supporters of Jesus Christ, son of Mary, are messengers of love, the safeguarding of rights, and respect for the human being, we count on Your Holiness’s stances in rejecting the injustice and aggression to which our homeland, Lebanon, is subjected at the hands of the Zionist invaders and their backers.

This is what we entrust to you during the visit in which you express to all Lebanese your care, love, and cooperation. We wish Your Holiness comfort and safety in your stay, and we ask God Almighty to bestow upon the oppressed in the world justice, security, and relief.

With best wishes.