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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Kareem Chehayeb and Abby Sewell

How Pope Leo’s first overseas visit is a symbol of hope for war-battered Lebanon

Every evening, upon returning to her Beirut apartment from work, Mireille Khoury performs a solemn ritual. She lights a candle beside a portrait of her deceased son, Elias, amidst sacred images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Elias was only 15 when he died in the August 2020 explosion at the Beirut port that blasted through surrounding neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.

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