JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

On his first international trip as pontiff, Pope Leo is carrying a message of unity and peace to the Middle East.

Today he arrived in Lebanon, where he challenged political leaders to be true peacemakers and set aside their differences.

It's a precarious time in Lebanon.

In addition to the deep domestic political divisions, Israel regularly strikes south Lebanon, straining a fragile truce with Lebanese militias.

Special correspondent Simona Foltyn traveled through Lebanon and has this report.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): Tucked away in the mountains of northern Lebanon lies Saint Charbel, one of the country's holiest pilgrimage sites.

Millions come to the monastery each year to visit the tomb of the Maronite monk and priest praying for miracles.

Thousands of healings, physical and spiritual, have been attributed to the saint.

One miracle, though, has remained peace.

George Karout hopes the Pope's visit can steer the country on the right course.

GEORGE KAROUT, Pilgrim (through translator): I have great hope, God willing, that this visit will have an impact, because we are exhausted and if it doesn't change anything, we will go towards a very difficult place.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): A ceasefire signed a year ago was supposed to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israeli bombardment never stopped and is even intensifying.

George believes that the solution is to disarm Hezbollah.

GEORGE KAROUT (through translator): What is required in the first place is that there is a state and that the weapons are united in the hands of the state.

There is international pressure that we must do this, and this isn't just international pressure.

It's in our interest as Lebanese.

There is no economy, no money, there's nothing.

No country, Arab or Western, will give us any support if these weapons remain.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): And the clock is ticking.

Israeli and American pressure to dismantle the paramilitary group before the end of the year has once again deepened rifts between Hezbollah's Shia constituents and Christians.

During the Lebanese civil war, some Christian factions were allied with Israel, which remains a sensitive topic.

Father Boutrus Ziadi hopes the Pope can defuse tensions.

FATHER BOUTRUS ZIADI, Priest, Saint Charbel (through translator): We, the Lebanese Christians and Muslims, agree with one another despite the meddling of some people and some outsiders.

They are trying to divide the Shia, the Sunnis, the Maronites, but it hasn't caused a big crisis between us.

People continue to reconcile.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): Lebanon has 18 officially recognized religious groups, 12 of which are Christian.

While Christian populations elsewhere in the Middle East have steadily declined, Christians still account for roughly a third of Lebanon's 5 million people, the largest percentage in the region.

The Pope's visit has drawn visitors from Nina and Far.

Nina Bouhasin came with her grandchildren from St.

Louis, Missouri.

NINA BOUHASIN, Lebanese-American pilgrim: Well, I was born in Lebanon, educated in Lebanon, and then I met my husband in Lebanon, and then he and I came to the United States 56 years ago.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): Decades later, wars and economic hardships still push Lebanese to leave.

NINA BOUHASIN: Lebanon is losing the prime youth that are educated.

Then they go everywhere and establish themselves and excel in whatever field they choose.

And they live so well, and yet they're deprived to live in their own country.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): A country reeling from conflict.

Once more, we leave the Christian heartland in the north and drive south.

SIMONA FOLTYN: We're headed to Lebanon's border with Israel to meet a Christian community there.

This is a part of the country that has been heavily affected by the war and that the Pope will not be visiting.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): 90 miles further south, we arrive in the ruins of Yaroun, a mixed Christian and Muslim village.

In the heart of the historic center, I met Father Charles Nadav.

He showed me what's left of the Catholic Church.

It has weathered Lebanon's many wars, none as devastating as this one.

FATHER CHARLES NADDAF (through translator): In the 2006 war, the church was also hit.

But in 2023, the damage, as you see, was much greater.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): The church was built 200 years ago and was renovated in 1923.

CHARLES NADDAF (through translator): The church was very beautiful.

We organized a jubilee to commemorate the renovation of the church.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): And then this latest war began when Hezbollah fired a rocket in a symbolic show of support to its ally Hamas.

Israel responded with a punishing bombing campaign and ground invasion that left more than 4,000 Lebanese dead and many villages in ruins.

The church was hit several times as the fighting raged on.

But the biggest blow came after the ceasefire went into effect.

CHARLES NADDAF (through translator): When the war ended, the Israelis destroyed the wall with an explosion as they were blowing up the houses.

SIMONA FOLTYN: How has this conflict affected the Christian community here?

CHARLES NADDAF (through translator): The Christians in this village have been greatly affected.

They've been displaced from their homes.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): In total, 560 houses in Yaroun were destroyed, many in controlled detonations before the IDF withdrew from the village.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Yaroun used to be one of the most beautiful villages in the south, with old stone houses dating back hundreds of years, of the 55 Christian families that used to live here, now only 16 remain.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): Ronnie Hourani belongs to one of those 16 families.

His home was only partly damaged.

He still has with the municipality, which has given him the means to renovate.

His neighbors are not so lucky.

RONNIE KHORANI, Resident of Yaroun (through translator): Some people are afraid that if they renovate their homes, they'll be hit again and others don't have the money.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): Israel has violated the ceasefire around 10,000 times, according to the U.N.

peacekeeping mission.

While only a couple of dozen violations have been recorded on the Lebanese side.

The ongoing strikes are likely a reason the pope is staying away.

RONNIE KHORANI (through translator): He should have come here to Yaroun because the church was destroyed.

He should have come to see how we are doing.

The people of the south and especially the Christians really needed him.

SIMONA FOLTYN (voice-over): And so the community sent a stone from the demolished church to Beirut to be blessed by the pope.

Few believe this symbolic gesture will change their lives.

For PBS News weekend, I'm Simona Foltyn in Lebanon.