Two years to the day after the 2020 Beirut explosion left 218 dead, caused $15 billion in property damage, and displaced 300,000 people, L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its August 4 edition to the continued crisis in Lebanon.

In the article, entitled “Per un pugno di grano e un po’ di verità” [For a handful of wheat and a little truth], Giada Aquilino reported on the widespread poverty and food insecurity in the Western Asian nation of 5.3 million (map), which is 60% Muslim and 34% Christian (28% Catholic). Aquilino also discussed the suspension of the official investigation into the cause of the explosion.

The article follows the Pope’s appeal for Lebanon at his August 3 general audience.

“I hope that #Lebanon, with the help of the international community, may continue on the path of rebirth, remaining faithful to its vocation to be a land of peace and pluralism, where communities of different religions can live in fraternity,” the Pope added in an August 4 tweet.