On the second day of his visit to Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI met Lebanese President, Parliament Speaker and the Prime Minister, as well as heads of religious communities in the presidential palace in Baabda

On the second day of his visit to Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI met Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati, as well as heads of religious communities in the presidential palace in Baabda.

At ten o'clock, Pope arrived in the presidential palace in Baabda amid the cheers of thousands of Lebanese who lined the streets to greet the pontiff and amid strict security measures.

After his meeting with Lebanon’s top officials, Pope met with leaders of Lebanon’s religious communities. Then, he’ll meet members of the government and state institutions in addition to diplomatic bodies and representatives of cultural organizations.

From Baabda, the pope will head to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Bzemmar for a lunch to be attended by patriarchs of Christian denominations as well as bishops, including members of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. Then, he will meet a group of youth in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite Church.

Upon arrival in Beirut Friday, the pope called for peace and reconciliation between the peoples of the Middle East, while denouncing religious fundamentalism as “a falsification of religion” and calling for its eradication.

The Apostolic Exhortation, which includes recommendations of the Synod on the Middle East held in October 2010 at the Vatican, was signed by the pope in St. Paul's Church in Harissa (north of Beirut), near the papal embassy, the place where he will reside in during the visit which lasts for three days.