Ammon News - Pope Leo made a fervent appeal to Lebanon's diverse communities to unite to solve the crisis-hit country's myriad problems at a Mass on Tuesday attended by tens of thousands which wrapped up his first overseas trip as Catholic leader.

The first U.S. pope, speaking to crowds on Beirut's historic waterfront, pleaded for Lebanon's people to "cast off the armour of our ethnic and political divisions" and address years of conflict, political paralysis and economic misery.

"We must unite our efforts so that this land can return to its glory," Leo said to a crowd of 150,000 people, according to Vatican figures.

He spoke hours after praying near piles of rubble at the site of a 2020 chemical explosion that shredded parts of Beirut.

Leo has been visiting Lebanon for three days on the second leg of an overseas trip that started in Turkey, in which he has pleaded for peace in the Middle East and warned that humanity's future was at risk from the world's bloody conflicts.

The pope is due to leave for Rome with his entourage at about 1:15 p.m. (1115 GMT).

Leo, who has said he is on a mission of peace, has urged the heads of religious sects in Lebanon to unite to heal the country and pressed political leaders to persevere with peace efforts after last year's devastating war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, and continued Israeli strikes.

The pope, a relative unknown on the world stage before his election to the papacy in May, has been closely watched as he made his first speeches overseas and interacted for the first time with people outside mainly Catholic Italy.

Crowds gathered at the waterfront hours before the start of Tuesday's Mass. They waved Vatican and Lebanese flags as Leo toured in an enclosed popemobile, offering blessings as some in the crowd used umbrellas to guard against a strong Mediterranean sun.

Reuters