President Joseph Aoun returned to Beirut this evening from Rome, where he and the First Lady took part in the first papal mass of Pope Leo XIV and extended their congratulations on his election as head of the Catholic Church.

President Aoun is scheduled to leave Beirut tomorrow for Cairo on an official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt, in response to an invitation from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The official delegation includes Foreign Minister and Emigrants Youssef Rajji, Lebanon’s Ambassador to Cairo Ali Halabi, and a number of advisers.