Last week, hundreds of religious leaders and activists descended on Washington for the Trump administration’s second annual ministerial gathering on international religious freedom. Yazidis, Shi’ite Muslims, evangelical Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Persian Jews — the parade of humanity was simply stunning, and the conference touched on almost every aspect of religious discrimination, persecution and genocide.

As rich as these sessions were, however, they left one critical issue unaddressed: the right to pilgrimage, particularly for Christians residing in Muslim-majority countries.

Pilgrimage is an essential, if overlooked, dimension of international religious freedom — and it isn’t unique to followers of Jesus. More than 2 million Muslims visited Mecca in 2017, and more than 20 million Shi’ites visited Karbala, Iraq, for the Arba’een pilgrimage that same year. This free movement of peoples ought to be commended, and defended, at a time of heightened sectarian tension around the region.

But adherents of all faiths should be disturbed that most Mideast Christians are still deprived of the right to pray at the place where Jesus Christ was buried and rose again, according to their belief, due to political factors beyond their control.

The problem is Israel — or rather, that most Arab and Muslim countries consider Israel to be an illegitimate enemy state. Citizens who have even the slightest contact with it or its people are frequently punished under any number of formal bans and boycotts.

Some countries like Egypt and Jordan are less hostile, looking the other way when citizens visit Jerusalem to pray. But Christians in other countries, especially those within the Iranian sphere of influence, undertake pilgrimage at their own risk. They may enter Israel without incident but will almost certainly face prosecution and detention upon their return.

Lebanon is a cause for special concern as the Middle Eastern country with the highest percentage of Christians. This tiny state on the Mediterranean maintains a precarious demographic balance between Christians, Druze, Sunnis and Shi’ites that is complicated by the aggressive meddling of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah.

Lebanese Christians, like many of their fellow citizens, avoid rocking the boat for fear of another civil war. But while Sunnis and Shi’ites remain free to visit Mecca and Karbala despite conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Christians are forbidden from visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher due to conflict with Israel. Prosecution under the 1955 Boycott Law or Article 278 of the Lebanese criminal code awaits anyone who thinks otherwise.

Lebanese Christians aren’t Zionist spies. Their impulse to visit Jerusalem has nothing to do with politics. They seek a spiritual encounter in the city where they believe God revealed himself to the world. Justice demands that we let them.

Security concerns between states should be respected. But blanket prohibitions on religious pilgrimage based on political hostility are the most unjust means of addressing those concerns. They contradict Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its affirmation of religious freedom for all.

In October, US diplomats will convene a symposium in Rome to address religious freedom, humanitarian aid and human trafficking, among other issues of shared concern with the Holy See. They should also take the chance should issue an unequivocal statement affirming the importance of pilgrimage to people of all faiths and calling on Lebanese officials to rescind all laws and regulations that place a permanent bar on Christian visits to Jerusalem.

This isn’t a political demand but a plea for freedom and equality in the spirit of the late Charles Malik, the Lebanese statesmen and Orthodox Christian who co-drafted the Universal Declaration and spent his life advocating for human rights for all.

At stake are the values and interests of the United States in a country uniquely positioned at the center of regional dynamics. Also at stake is the future of the Maronites, the biggest Christian population of Lebanon and the largest Catholic community in the region.

Here the engagement of Pope Francis is crucial. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said: “To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.”

Lebanon offers a tangible opportunity for Pope Francis to carry on the legacy of his predecessor and defend a branch of the church that desperately needs to regain its spiritual strength in a moment of deep despair.

It is imperative that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and all Americans, stand beside the pontiff.

Robert Nicholson is president of the Philos Project, an organization that works to foster serious Christian engagement with the Middle East.