Pope Leo XIV calls on Lebanese leaders to be true peacemakers as he seeks to bring message of hope

BEIRUT (AP) — Pope Leo XIV challenged Lebanon’s political leaders on Sunday to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside, as he sought to give Lebanon’s long-suffering people a message of hope and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.

Leo arrived in Beirut from Istanbul on the second leg of his maiden voyage as pope. He came to encourage the Lebanese people to persevere at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country as it faces economic uncertainty, deep political divisions and fears of a new war with Israel.

Leo is fulfilling a promise of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit Lebanon for years but was unable to because of its many crises and as his health worsened.

Lebanon’s political system, based on sectarian power-sharing, has been prone to deadlock with lengthy power vacuums and regular stalemates over controversial issues, including the investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Most recently, the country has been deeply split over calls for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party, to disarm after fighting a war with Israel last year that left the country deeply damaged.

Leo didn’t directly reference the recent war or the debate over weapons in his speech at the presidential palace. But he acknowledged the hardships the Lebanese people have endured.

“You have suffered greatly from the consequences of an economy that kills, from global instability that has devastating repercussions also in the Levant, and from the radicalization of identities and conflicts,” Leo said. “But you have always wanted, and known how, to start again.”

He told Lebanese leaders to seek the truth and engage in a process of reconciliation with “those who have suffered wrongs and injustice” if they truly want to be considered peacemakers.

A culture of reconciliation, he said, must come from the top with leaders willing to put their personal interests aside and “recognize the common good as superior to the particular.”

The highlight of Leo’s Lebanese visit will come on Tuesday, his last day, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the Aug. 4, 2020, port blast, which killed more than 200 people and did billions of dollars in damage.

For many people, Leo's mere presence was a message.

"It shows that Lebanon is not forgotten,” said Bishop George, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut.

At the Beirut airport, where his plane landed with a Lebanese military jet escort, Leo was greeted first by President Joseph Aoun, then by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

He moved through the streets of the Lebanese capital in a closed popemobile, a return to the past after Pope Francis eschewed closed popemobiles. Lebanese troops deployed on both sides of the road and a helicopter flew overhead.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, had declined to discuss the types of vehicles Leo would use in Lebanon, and whether they would be bulletproofed. The visit came just a week after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed five people, including a top Hezbollah official.

As the convoy reached the entrance of the presidential palace, a dance troupe performed dabke, a traditional Arab folk dance, under heavy rain.

In Turkey, Leo marked an important Christian anniversary. In Lebanon, Leo was seeking to encourage Lebanese who believe their leaders have failed them, and to call on Lebanese Christians to stay or, if they have already moved abroad, to come home.

A Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, Lebanon has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk as families have moved abroad for safety and better lives.

In his welcome speech, Leo said “much good can come” from the Lebanese diaspora. “However, we must not forget that remaining in our homeland and working day by day to develop a civilization of love and peace remains something very valuable,” he said.

Aoun, Lebanon's Maronite Christian president, vowed that Christians will remain.

“Lebanon is a homeland of freedom for every human being,” Aoun said. “Your Holiness, tell the world that we will not die. We will not leave, we will not despair, and we will not surrender.”

Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last year that nominally ended a two-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel continues to launch near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop the militant group from rebuilding. The war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and caused widespread destruction.

The pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace,” said Farah Saadeh, a Beirut resident walking on the city’s seaside promenade. “We hope nothing is going to happen after his departure.”

Before Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection to injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to, referring to the Israeli strikes.

The group also urged its supporters to line up along the papal convoy route. Hundreds of them did so, waving the flags of Lebanon and the Vatican.

Mounir Younes, the leader of a Hezbollah-affiliated scout troupe, said they aimed to send a message about “the importance of coexistence and national unity.”

“Muslim-Christian coexistence is a great wealth that we must hold onto,” he said.

Hezbollah — a primarily Shiite group — has allied with several Christian political groups in the country, including the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada Movement. However, the Christian party with the largest parliamentary bloc, the Lebanese Forces, is an opponent of Hezbollah and has criticized the group for pulling the country into a war with Israel. The country is now deeply divided over calls for the group to disarm.

In neighboring Syria, hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the country’s 14 years of civil war. A delegation of some 300 Syrian Christians traveled to Lebanon to join a meeting between Leo and youth groups and pray in a public Mass on Beirut’s waterfront.

“We are in need of someone like the pope to come and give us hope as Christians” at a time of “fear of an unknown future,” said 24-year-old Dima Awwad, one of the delegation members. “We wish that the pope would come to visit Syria as he visited Lebanon, to reassure the people and to feel that we are present as eastern Christians and that we need to be in this place.”

Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb, Bassem Mroue and Ali Sharafeddine in Beirut contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV is greeted by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun upon his arrival at the Presidential Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (Alessandro Di Meo/Pool Via AP)

In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese dancers, wearing folk costume, perform the traditional Lebanese "dabkeh" dance, as they welcome Pope Leo XIV in his pope mobile upon his arrival at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Pope Leo XIV as they meet at Beirut's Presidential palace, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Two Lebanese air force fighters escort Pope Leo XIV's plane as it flies over Beirut, Lebanon, on it's way to the international airport, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Two Lebanese air force fighters escort Pope Leo XIV's plane as it flies over Beirut, Lebanon, on it's way to the international airport, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV, center, is escorted by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, First Lady Nehmat Aoun before arrival ceremony at Beirut International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Beirut's international airport, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV talks to reporters aboard an aircraft on his way to Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (Andreas Solaro/Pool Via AP)

People wave Lebanese and Vatican flags as they wait to welcome Pope Leo XIV upon his arrival to Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, and First Lady Nehmat Aoun upon his arrival to Beirut International Airport ,in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Pope Leo XIV reviews an honor guard during a farewell ceremony before boarding a plane bound to Beirut, Lebanon, at Ataturk airport, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

Children and Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian, background right, wait for Pope Leo XIV to celebrate a liturgy at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian arrive to celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I sign a joint declaration at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, during Pope's first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Turkey, November 29, 2025. (Dilara Senkaya/Pool Via AP)

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, right, participate into the Doxology in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end of the Doxology in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass at the Volkswagen Arena, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians leave after attending the Doxology at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New DNA testing has definitively linked the unsolved death of a Utah teenager in 1974 to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, the local sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

Laura Ann Aime, 17, went missing Halloween night 51 years ago after she left a party alone to go to a convenience store. About a month later, her body was found on the side of a highway in American Fork Canyon. She was bound, beaten and without clothing. Authorities said she had likely been kept alive for several days after her abduction.

Investigators long suspected that Bundy was responsible — police said he verbally acknowledged his culpability before his execution in Florida in 1989 — but the case remained open until they could be certain.

“It's really quite amazing that people are even still interested in Laura's case,” her sister, Michelle Impala, said at a news conference Wednesday. “Know I speak for my family when I thank you, and thank you media, too, for even caring.”

Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, with at least 30 women and girls’ deaths linked to him in several states in the 1970s. His murders — which occurred in sorority houses, parks and elsewhere — set the nation on edge. Bundy’s arrest drew widespread fascination, in part because many considered him to be charming and handsome.

Investigators had carefully preserved the evidence from Aime’s case, and forensic analysts were able to identify portions that seemed most likely to have usable DNA samples, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said.

The state crime lab got new technology in 2023 that allows investigators to extract DNA from samples even if they are small, degraded from age or contain DNA from multiple people, he said. That technology allowed them to identify a single male DNA profile, which they submitted to a national law enforcement database.

Bundy’s DNA was a match, Mason said.

That profile can now be used by other law enforcement agencies who have long suspected Bundy of additional unsolved killings, he said, adding that more families could get similar closure.

“Laura Aime is the quintessential daughter of Utah County,” Sgt. Mike Reynolds said. “We felt the pain the family feels when she was taken. We felt the pain that you felt this whole entire time, and we’ve had the desire to deliver to you some type of healing.”

Impala was only 12 when her older sister died. Even with a five-year age gap, she said they were very close and did everything together. They shared a bedroom on the family's farm in Fairview, Utah, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Provo.

“I'm a little kid just following her around, but we had a lot in common," Impala said.

Impala reminisced about about riding horses with her sister and watching Aime feed her horse licorice nibs.

“When she died, he would not eat those anymore,” she said.

It’s not known when Bundy first began his attacks, but by 1974, young women — many of them college students — began disappearing in Washington state. Authorities were still investigating those cases when Bundy moved to Salt Lake City and began killing people in Utah, Idaho and Colorado.

At the time of Aime’s killing, Bundy was studying law at the University of Utah.

In August 1975, he was arrested for the first time in connection with the attacks. Police pulled him over and found incriminating items in his vehicle including rope, handcuffs and a ski mask.

He was found guilty the following year of kidnapping and assaulting a teen in Utah who had managed to get away. Bundy was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that crime, and while imprisoned he was charged in connection with the earlier death of a nursing student.

He was brought to Aspen, Colorado, for a hearing in that case in 1977, and he escaped custody by climbing out a second-story courthouse window when he was left alone for a time. He was caught after about a week, but escaped again six months later by breaking through the ceiling of a jail.

Bundy fled across the country, eventually making his way to Tallahassee, Florida. On Jan. 15, 1977, he entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University, bludgeoning two women to death with a large branch and leaving two more badly injured. He then went to another house nearby, badly injuring another woman.

Less than a month later, he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida. Kimberly Leach was believed to be his last victim before he was arrested again and executed years later.

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

Brent Bullock, center left, who led investigations at the Utah County Attorney's Office around the time of Laura Ann Aime's murder, shakes hands with Michelle Impala, Aime's younger sister, after a news conference at the Utah County Sheriff's Office in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, announcing definitive evidence linking Ted Bundy to Aime's murder. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)

Michelle Impala, right, sister of Laura Ann Aime, speaks, joined by Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, during a news conference announcing that definitive evidence has linked Ted Bundy to Aime's murder, at the Utah County Sheriff's Office, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)

Utah County Sheriff's Deputy Jake Hall, lead detective on the case, looks to other family members as he hugs Tommi Aime, youngest sister of Laura Ann Aime, after announcing that definitive evidence has linked Ted Bundy to Laura's murder at a news conference at the Utah County Sheriff's Office, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)

FILE - Mourners say goodbye to Kimberly Leach at her funeral, April 13, 1978, in Lake City, Fla. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Accused murderer Ted Bundy attends the second day of jury selection in his murder trial, June 27, 1979, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo,File)

FILE - Accused murderer Ted Bundy leans back in his chair as trial judge Edward Cowart speaks, in Tallahassee, Fla., April 26, 1979. (AP Photo/Mark Foley, File)