JAL EL DIB, Lebanon (RNS) — For Eissam, a 24-year-old Lebanese man battling drug addiction, the Catholic nuns who run the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross in Jal El Dib, just north of Beirut, are nothing short of family.
“The sisters here are like our sisters and brothers and mothers and parents for us. They care about us,” he told Religion News Service in an interview at the hospital on Monday (Dec. 1). Full names of the patients interviewed are not being shared for privacy.
Among a small group of patients who greeted Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday when he visited the hospital on his two-day trip to Lebanon, Eissam said he hoped that by coming to the hospital, the pope would help reduce the stigma that still surrounds mental illness, addiction and disabilities in the country.
“What is lived in this place stands as a clear reminder to all — to your country, but also to the whole human family — we cannot forget those who are most fragile,” Leo said during his visit, praising the work of the nuns at the hospital.
Eissam said he wanted the pope to “see Jesus in the people in here at the Cross Hospital, the people who are left behind from society, from their parents, from everyone.” Like others in the country, Eissam has faced a struggling economy, conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and the aftermath of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion.
According to the World Health Organization, 70% of people living in the Middle East live with mental disorders, with the percentage rising to almost 90% in conflict areas. The region also has the highest rate of clinical depression and anxiety, according to a 2023 Global Burden of Disease study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The parish of the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross in the town of Jal El Dib, north of Beirut. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)
Given the economic collapse and recurring conflict, Lebanon shows some of the highest trauma indicators in the region. According to a report by the nongovernmental organization Embrace, there were 168 suicides in the country of about 5.8 million in 2023, a 21.7% increase over the previous year. Cannabis and prescription drug addiction are also on the rise, according to a 2021 European Union Drugs Agency web survey. But religious and social taboos still stigmatize addiction and mental illness, making data often incomplete.
The Hospital of the Cross is one of the largest hospitals for mentally ill people in the Middle East and currently cares for about 800 patients. It was founded by the Rev. Abouna Yaacoub, a Capuchin friar who sought to help a fellow priest struggling with mental illness. When others saw what he was doing, they started bringing other patients to him. He taught the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, a congregation he founded, how to care for mentally ill patients without prejudice regarding their religious, cultural or ethnic backgrounds. He established the hospital for the mentally disabled in 1951.
Yaacoub was known for telling the sisters who run the hospital today, “If you knew whom you are serving, you would serve them on your knees.” For Sister Micheline Njeim, that message is a reminder that “we are called to find the suffering Christ in each of our patients.” During the meeting with Leo, the sisters’ superior general, Mother Marie Makhlouf, asked that the pope consider making their founder a saint.
Njeim told RNS that many of the patients arrive at the hospital with anxiety disorders, severe depression and trauma linked to the loss of loved ones, violence and socioeconomic instability. It is up to the nuns and a team of specialized doctors, nurses and staff to care for the patients, who have a range of mental health concerns including bipolar, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
She said that recent traumatic events in Lebanon “have left deep marks” on people, worsening existing disorders. “Patients no longer come with a single trauma but with a succession of unresolved trials. We see more post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorders, suicidal thoughts and greater psychological fragility among already vulnerable people,” she said.
People gather in front of destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Samir, a Druze Muslim and a patient at the facility for the past 20 years, said he is grateful to be treated by the nuns, who make no distinction for religious affiliation. “Maybe I will stay here till the end of my life. But I am very glad to be in this monastery, especially given the situation we have had in Lebanon,” he said.
For George, a Maronite Christian, the pope’s visit was an opportunity to spread “a message of love and coexistence between Christians and Muslims” in Lebanon, so that they may “cooperate together and work together and see the same vision together for a happy future for them, for their children,” he said.
Pope Leo also visited the St. Dominique floor dedicated to children and young adults with intellectual and physical disabilities — including autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome — for a private meeting. According to a 2021-2022 study by UNICEF, 70% of children in Lebanon show signs of severe emotional distress, with rates “among the highest ever recorded in the region.”
Fifty-eight children are currently being treated at the facility, 35 of whom are completely dependent on the staff for their basic needs.
When the Christmas holidays arrive, many of them will have no other place to go since their families have essentially disavowed them, hospital staff said. “Around 40% of the families do not come to visit,” said Dr. Fouad Tahan, a psychiatrist at the facility, adding that many families in the country don’t accept or recognize mental illness or disabilities.
He said finances are a major challenge facing the hospital because it receives no support from the state, which is undergoing an economic crisis. The hospital relies on donations and the work of the sisters to support itself, he said, but the costs of living and the medicines necessary to treat the patients are expensive.
“We hope the pope’s visit gives us the peace that we need everywhere,” Tahan said. “Our team is doing their best to translate this peace to the kids, who need most of all to be joyful and stay with us instead of families that are not taking care of them well.”
Njeim said that Leo asked to visit the young people being cared for at the hospital. “I hope his presence will remind everyone that they are loved by God exactly as they are — and that psychological wounds are not a shame,” she said, adding that she believes the pope’s presence “will remind the whole world of the value and dignity of the mentally ill.”
She said she is convinced “without a doubt” that Leo’s visit will help reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness in Lebanon. “When the pope enters a psychiatric hospital, he sends a clear message: Mental health is a human reality. His visit can open hearts, free families from fear or shame of having a mentally ill relative and give courage to those who hesitate to seek help. It can also encourage society to view mental illness with greater respect and compassion.”