# Lebanon, liturgy and the SSPX occupy Leo XIV’s August agenda

**By:** Michael Haynes  
**Published:** 2026-08-22T13:00:00.000Z  
**Source:** [The Catholic Herald](https://thecatholicherald.com/article/lebanon-liturgy-and-the-sspx-occupy-leo-xivs-august-agenda)

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The Vatican continues to enjoy its slightly reduced August pace, and though Leo XIV’s August 22 visit to San Marino and Rimini is likely to attract most headlines, other entries on his calendar this week were of greater weight.
Assumption-tide has come and gone, and the octave day of Rome’s beloved Marian feast sees Pope Leo head outside of the Eternal City for a day trip to the north-east of the country. First is a four-hour visit to the Republic of San Marino where he will greet the civil authorities before taking part in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Basilica of San Marino.
Serving as the co-cathedral of the Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro, the basilica houses the relics of the micro-republic’s founder, St Marinus. It has welcomed popes before, but not since Pope Benedict XVI’s 2011 visit has the white zucchetto of the pontiff been seen in San Marino’s streets.
This is a precursor to the afternoon’s affair, which is the 47th “Meeting for Friendship among Peoples” held in nearby Rimini. Organised by the influential lay Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, the multi-day event draws attendees from across Europe and further afield for discussions centred on fraternity and peace. Leo’s short attendance is set to be a highlight of the programme, and he will meet with young people in the cathedral before then offering Mass at Rimini Port. Full coverage will be forthcoming in the Catholic Herald.
A papal trip anywhere is always much beloved by TV crews eager to utilise the footage, but arguably far more important than his Saturday jolly was Leo’s meeting with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun on Thursday morning. The Holy See has a particularly close relationship with Lebanon, something which Leo XIV ably demonstrated during his visit there late last year. Aoun has now met the Pope four times in less than a year and a half, a detail which further bolsters the import the Holy See is giving to its relationship with the nation.
Lebanon is currently in the midst of poignant peace negotiations with Israel, which are being facilitated by the US. As outlined to this correspondent by Lebanon’s ambassador to the Holy See, the small nation walks a tight diplomatic line when it comes to ensuring national sovereignty and who it can turn to for aid in defending that right. The Holy See is arguably a unique ally in this area, given that it “asks nothing in return and is always ready to help”.
Fresh missile strikes by Israel into Lebanon last weekend killed just under a dozen people, including women and children, and President Aoun responded by saying the strikes revealed Israel’s true intention regarding the commitment to peace and the proposed agreement.
Following Thursday’s meeting, the Holy See appeared to publicly side with Lebanon on the issue, as the Vatican noted its “serious concerns about the difficulties being encountered” in the peace agreement’s implementation and “assured its support for efforts towards that end”. Aoun’s request for Leo and the Holy See to continue supporting “beloved Lebanon” – as Leo described it in December – is being taken seriously in Rome.
Two of the Pope’s speeches this week garnered particular praise from many Catholics and are deserving of particular mention. In Wednesday’s general audience, he praised Gregorian chant and urged that sacred music in the liturgy “be inspired mainly by Sacred Scripture, the liturgical books and the spiritual Tradition of the Church”. This followed his August 14 appeal for adherence to the prescribed rubrics when offering the Mass – perhaps the Vatican is taking note of the liturgical abuses emanating from northern Spain on a weekly basis at present.
Then on Friday Leo welcomed Catholic legislators, who had gathered to discuss the challenges posed by AI. He urged them to resist the dangers of AI’s erosion of the family as the “primary cell of society”, calling upon lawmakers to “promote policies that strengthen marriage and families, support parents in their educational mission and enable young people to look to the future with confidence”.
This week also saw the publication of Leo XIV’s message for the upcoming 11th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, coming on September 1. Climate issues have taken on a new prominence at the Vatican since Pope Francis’ pontificate, and Leo has continued this papal attention, albeit with language more befitting the Church and less in the style of an NGO. He decried the rise of war and how the “disruption to the harmonious balance of creation is accelerating”. As a counter to this, Leo called on nations to commit to an “inner transformation” based on the Gospel and the work of grace.
Finally, time is running out for the Holy See to respond to the Society of Saint Pius X’s “preliminary recourse” lodged against the Decree of Excommunication published by the Vatican after the July 1 episcopal consecrations. The 30 “useful” or working days have expired as of this weekend, meaning that unless the Vatican has responded privately to the SSPX, the Society is thus able to take the next stage of the canonical appeal process.
On that front, the Holy See’s former apostolic visitor has spoken publicly regarding the entire affair. Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s lengthy theological and historical analysis of the Society’s current position is worth reading in full, as he outlined how the group faced “a tragic choice” in either accepting “uncertain and unclear aspects of doctrine and liturgy”, or to “disobey the Pope in a matter of grave importance”. However, some theologians have taken swift umbrage at Schneider’s favourable comparison of the SSPX to St Athanasius, arguing that his take is fallacious. Either way, the Church now must wait for the next stage of the Society’s appeal to Rome.
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Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X/Twitter @MLJHaynes.
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