Pope Francis has held a day of reflection and prayer for Lebanon in the Vatican with the heads of the country’s Christian churches, as the Middle Eastern nation sinks under the weight of multiple crises.
Speaking yesterday, at the end of the day during closing prayers at St Peter’s Basilica, Francis urged the country's leaders to come together and put aside sectarian differences: “I would reiterate how essential it is that those in power choose finally and decisively to work for true peace and not for their own interests.”
The church leaders had gathered in Rome for a day of prayers, mass, and discussions to reflect, garner hope and address the plight of Lebanon’s people.
The head of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, Patriarch Bechara Boutrous al Rai led a delegation of ten senior leaders from the Maronite, Melchite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian Orthodox and Protestant Churches of Lebanon.
During the summit, Francis repeated his wish to visit Lebanon, but the chance of a trip before the end of the year has receded in light of the country’s fragile state and governmental inaction.
Lebanon is undergoing the worst economic depression in its modern history which has plummeted the country of six million, a third of whom are Christians, into a state of poverty, hunger and unemployment.
Government inaction in the face of the downturn has caused severe fuel, medicine, electricity and food shortages in recent weeks, with desperate citizens taking to the streets in angry protests threatening a social implosion.
“Let there be an end to the few profiting from the sufferings of many! No more letting half-truths continue to frustrate people’s aspirations,” Francis said addressing the political paralysis, while describing the Lebanese as “disillusioned and weary.”
The day-long meeting between Francis and the clergymen demonstrates the Vatican’s special interest in Lebanon, which is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state, President Michel Aoun.
Under Lebanon’s power sharing agreement drawn up at the end of the 19975-1990 Civil War, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim and the President a Maronite Catholic.
However, the ruling class's failure to agree on a new government led by former prime minister Saad Hariri, has left the stricken country without a government since August 2020, pushing its people closer to the brink.
As such, Aoun and Hariri, who have been bickering over cabinet seats are hoping that Thursday’s meeting in the Vatican will offer some unity and relief.
Patriarch Rai, who has been attempting to mediate between the two leaders, said in his Sunday sermon that the meeting with the Holy See would be important to bolster Lebanon’s Christian-Muslim alliance: ”We do not go to the Vatican carrying Christians alone, but all Lebanese...We carry the cause of Lebanon as the cause of freedom, dialogue and Christian-Islamic coexistence.”
Loading ...
