Dated, sourced coverage of what is happening now around Saint Charbel and the Lebanon
saints - newly recorded miracles, the upcoming film, papal milestones, relic pilgrimages,
feast-day events - with beatifications and canonizations from the wider Church below.
Every item links to its original source so you can read the full report.
Official poster - "Charbel The Movie" (MTV/NMPRO).
Producer Nadim Mehanna (NMPRO Arts) announced the film on MTV Lebanon's talk show
Sar El Wa2et on December 21, 2025, unveiling a trailer and a national fundraising
campaign that raised more than $1.3 million to support an international release.
Four actors portray Charbel across his life, with Jerry Ghazal as the younger Charbel
and the story's central figure. The film is listed with Lebanese cinemas for 2026.
This is a new production, distinct from the 2009 film "Charbel" by Nabil Lebbos.
As of September 20, 2026, public reporting does not confirm a wide international
release date, streaming distribution, or English-language availability. Lebanese
cinema listings mark the film as coming soon. This page will be updated when an
official date is announced by the production company.
News of Saint Charbel and the Lebanon Saints
Reported events and newly recorded cases are not the same as formal Vatican recognition. Labels on each card say which is which.
Reported October 5, 2026 · Cinema listing checked October 6
Official film poster, MTV/NMPRO. Promotional artwork, not a scene photograph.
Beirut Souks Cinemacity now lists October 22, 2026 as the opening date for Mar Charbel, the 130-minute biopic directed by Nadim Mehanna. Its film page has no screening sessions scheduled yet. Lebanon24 reported on October 5 that the film would begin showing in Lebanese cinemas on October 22 after an earlier postponement; its account of booking demand cites an unnamed source. The cinema listing supports the planned opening date, not a completed release, a confirmed showtime or an international rollout.
We have added an AI transformation series to our gallery, bringing the historic photograph of Saint Charbel into conversation with new devotional art. The original stays visible beside the renditions, so visitors can see the source and the artistic choices for themselves.
The historic reference photograph, not an AI rendition. Photographer unknown; public domain according to Wikimedia Commons.
The collection shows the work as a series, from imagined portraits to close portraits and a comparison strip. The current first candidate has a dark beard with a grey center streak; the window portrait also has a dark beard. Other takes remain visible, so visitors can compare different artistic choices rather than seeing one image presented as a definitive likeness. The final and alternate renditions use the historic photograph as their reference; the early candidates are imagined portraits, not verified transformations of that source photograph.
We are proud to share the series, and we want its meaning to be clear. These are AI-assisted artistic renditions, not newly discovered photographs, a reconstruction of a documented scene or proof of an apparition. The gallery labels the new images as artistic renditions or "AI transformation, not a photograph." The historic photograph remains separately identified and credited. A personal-experience caption on the first candidate is presented as the website creator's own account, not independent verification.
Explore the series in our gallery: open an image full-screen, compare the original and the renditions, and read the caption beside each piece.
Qozhaya monastery, archival venue context, not the ministers' visit. Photo: Yellaban, public domain. Image source
Lebanon's Tourism Minister Laura Al-Khazen Lahoud and Jordan's Tourism and Antiquities Minister Imad Hijazin visited Qozhaya monastery, Bqaa Kafra, Annaya and Saint Charbel's hermitage on Friday, according to the National News Agency's October 3 report. They met priests and monks and were briefed on Lebanon's religious trails, including the Lebanon Mountain Trail and the trail associated with Saint Charbel. The report describes a visit and briefing, not a new agreement or a trail opening.
Kfifan monastery, 2012. Venue context, not the relic reception. Photo: Evilscaught, CC BY 3.0; WebP conversion. Image source · CC BY 3.0
Kfifan's Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina received relics of its two patron saints from Rome, MTV Lebanon reported on October 2. Mass, a blessing and a procession marked their feast. Father Emile Akiki of the Lebanese Maronite Order led the Mass. Saint Charbel studied at Kfifan before his ordination, under Saint Nimatullah Al-Hardini. The report also recalls the monastery's connection with Blessed Estephan Nehme. These are relics of Cyprian and Justina, not Saint Charbel. The ceremony's exact calendar date is not specified.
Lebanese food in Barcelona, 2021. Illustrative, not the El Paso event. Photo: El Mono Español, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized to WebP. Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Saint Sharbel Maronite Catholic Mission in El Paso announced a Lebanese Festival for October 3 and 4, 2026, with Lebanese food, live entertainment and dabke dancing. Those advertised dates have passed. This card preserves the original announcement, not a post-event report; attendance and the event outcome have not been verified.
Saint George Maronite Cathedral (left) and the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, downtown Beirut, 2009. Venue context, not the consecration Mass. Photo: Lebnen18, CC BY-SA 3.0; WebP conversion. Image source · CC BY-SA 3.0
On Sunday, September 27, Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi presided over the consecration of an altar dedicated to Blessed Patriarchs Estephan Douaihy and Elias Hoayek at Saint George Maronite Cathedral in downtown Beirut, with the two patriarchs' relics placed within it. President Joseph Aoun attended, alongside religious and official figures and faithful from across Lebanon, especially Zgharta-Ehden, Douaihy's birthplace region. In his homily, Al-Rahi paired the two blesseds: Douaihy "preserved the church's memory and heritage amidst persecution," while Hoayek "carried the nation's cause amidst major transformations." Both remain Blessed, not canonized saints: Douaihy was beatified in 2024, Hoayek on July 25, 2026.
National Shrine Grotto, Emmitsburg, 2015. Venue context, not the 2026 celebration. Photo: Bohemian Baltimore, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized to WebP. Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Family of Saint Sharbel USA reports that pilgrims gathered on September 26 at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for the ninth anniversary of Saint Sharbel's shrine dedication. The celebration included Eucharistic Adoration, confessions and Mass celebrated by Father Theodore Trinko, IVE, at St. Mary's Glass Chapel. After Mass, pilgrims followed the saint's relic in procession to the shrine, where they received a blessing with Saint Sharbel's oil and venerated the relic. The organizer published its account on September 30.
At the monastery entrance in Annaya, where the walk ends: a pilgrim reaches up to Saint Charbel's statue. Photograph: LLEW, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
On September 26, pilgrims walked from Byblos to Annaya carrying the intentions of the
Christians who remain in Lebanon's southern border villages - Rmeich, Ain Ebel, Debel -
turning the journey into an act of solidarity and hope. Believers from across Lebanon
gathered in Byblos and walked some 10 miles from the Mar Girgis church to the Monastery
of Saint Maron in Annaya, where the pilgrimage concluded with Mass at the Church of
Saint Charbel. Organizer Anthony Jarjour of Rmeich, who walked some 112 miles from
Rmeich to Annaya last year, had set out from Tyre on September 22 and reached the shrine
after five days on foot - about 93 miles, rerouted for road closures. The pilgrimage was
organized with the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya and the municipalities of Byblos and
Annaya, with Civil Defense and Red Cross support.
Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898), the hermit of Annaya.
Dr. Anne Borik, the Phoenix physician who headed the medical committee examining
Dafne Gutierrez's 2016 recovery of sight after prayers at a St. Charbel relic visit,
gave a new interview on how the case changed her practice of medicine. She now
directs the Saint Sharbel Spiritual Life Center in Pittsburgh.
Pilgrims on the Saint Charbel Trail. Photo courtesy of Father Michael Sliney, LC.
Father Michael Sliney, LC, completed a pilgrimage along Lebanon's St. Charbel Trail,
which links monasteries, villages, and historic sites, and encouraged more Americans
to make the journey.
On Saturday, July 25, 2026, Elias Hoayek, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1899 to 1931,
was beatified at the Patriarchal summer seat of Dimane in Lebanon. Vatican News reports that
President Joseph Aoun attended, that Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for
the Causes of Saints, concelebrated as the envoy of Pope Leo XIV, and that Patriarch Bechara
Boutros al-Rai gave the homily. From that day he is called Blessed. The miracle for his
beatification was approved by decree on May 22, 2026. At the Angelus the next day, Pope Leo XIV
called him "a man of dialogue and hope" and the "Father of Greater Lebanon." Hoayek was born in
Helta on December 4, 1843, founded the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, and died at
Bkerke on December 24, 1931. He decided to build the shrine at
Harissa.
Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898) - the historic photograph kept of the saint. Public domain.
Hundreds of faithful gathered at Revesby, Sydney, for the saint's July feast,
one of many annual celebrations held by Maronite parishes around the world for the
third Sunday of July (Maronite calendar) and July 24 (Latin calendar).
The vigil lamp at Saint Charbel's tomb in Annaya, from which the pilgrim relic travels. Photograph: LLEW, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Archdiocese of Cebu welcomed the Pilgrim Relic of St. Charbel Makhlouf with a
Welcome Mass at San Carlos Seminary College and three days of public veneration
across parishes.
The Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, which keeps the register of reported miracles. Photograph: Paul Saad, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Two new miracles attributed to St. Charbel's intercession were reported in the first
weeks of 2026 - one in the United States and one in Lebanon - continuing the
monastery's long-running register, which now exceeds 29,680 recorded cases.
Pope Leo XIV praying at the tomb of Saint Charbel in Annaya. Photo: Vatican Media / Vatican News.
Pope Leo XIV prayed at the saint's tomb in Annaya during his apostolic journey to
Lebanon - the first pope ever to visit - and entrusted Lebanon, the Church, and the
world to Saint Charbel's intercession.
Beatifications, canonizations, and news from the worldwide Church and the wider Maronite and Catholic community - every item dated and linked to its original source, newest first.
Inside the sacrario, the memorial to the fallen at Marzabotto on the Monte Sole ridge, where the 1944 massacres took place. Photograph: Gianni Careddu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
On Sunday, September 27, in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro,
prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, beatified three priests killed by Nazi forces
in the 1944 Monte Sole massacres: Don Ubaldo Marchioni, a diocesan priest; Don Elia Comini, a Salesian;
and Father Martino Capelli, a Dehonian. Because the Church has recognized them as martyrs, no miracle
was required for their beatification - from Sunday they are called Blessed. Bologna Today reported
that a bullet-pierced pyx, found in the rubble of the altar of Casaglia's church, has become a symbol
of the massacre the three priests did not escape.
Blessed Fulton Sheen at his desk in 1956, at the height of his television years.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen - the Emmy-winning broadcaster of Life Is Worth Living -
was declared Blessed at a Mass in The Dome at America's Center in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presided for Pope Leo XIV before a crowd organizers estimated
near 50,000; the miracle that cleared the way was the 2010 revival of James Fulton Engstrom,
who carried Sheen's relic in the procession. A day earlier, Pope Leo XIV praised Sheen's
media apostolate at the Wednesday General Audience. He is Blessed, not yet a saint - his
cause for canonization continues.
This page summarizes and links to original reporting; it does not republish articles.
Dates are the original publication dates of the sources. Reported healings and movie
production news are labeled separately from miracles formally recognized by the
Catholic Church. To follow how recorded cases differ from recognized ones, see the
Miracles page. If a source corrects or withdraws a
story, this page will be updated to match.
