The Qadisha Valley in northern Lebanon. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today/File photo)
BEIRUT — A priest and schoolteacher in rural Akkar governorate is under renewed investigation by the Maronite Diocese of Tripoli, diocese secretary Joe Rizqallah told L’Orient Today, following allegations on social media that he abused minors.
Before being put on leave upon the start of the investigation in August, the accused had been serving as a priest in the Akkar town of Qobeiyat while teaching biology at a high school in neighboring Andaqit, according to Toni Sarkis, an Qobeiyat mukhtar who says he attends the priest’s church.
Rumors of the sexual abuse spread on social media in recent months. Lebanese news site Naqd reported earlier this month that at least one person had come forward with allegations of long-time abuses that occurred when they were a minor. L’Orient Today could not independently verify the story by the time of publication. Another Akkar source with knowledge of the matter suggested to L’Orient Today there were multiple accusers, though requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.
The source said they personally “did not witness anything” unusual about the accused.
It was unclear whether the alleged abuse occurred in the church, in the school or elsewhere. It was not immediately clear how many victims he allegedly abused. Diocese secretary Rizqallah said he could not confirm whether the priest possessed explicit images or had sexually abused minors, as the investigation into the priest is ongoing. He declined to provide contact information of Church officials involved in the investigation.
“The investigation has to be a total secret,” he said.
Rizqallah added that Maronite officials launched an investigation in August 2023 after receiving “complaints from one or many people against him.” He declined to specify the nature of those complaints.
It was not immediately clear when the priest was dismissed from his teaching job. Reached by phone on Tuesday, two administrative staff members at the school where he worked, the Sacred Hearts Sisters High School, said they could not comment on the case.
Another source at the school whom a prominent resident said had direct knowledge of the abuse case did not respond to requests for comment.
Should the priest be found to have abused minors or possessed explicit images of children, the Maronite church must “inform the Vatican and there are formalities that the Vatican has to take against our priest,” Rizqallah said. Asked whether a legal case will be conducted via the Lebanese judicial system, Rizqallah said that depended on the Church’s findings and whether any potential victims file lawsuits.
Previously, 82-year-old Lebanese Maronite priest Mansour Labaky was convicted in 2013 by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the sexual abuse of three minor girls, over a period from 1976 to 1997. Following this conviction, victims filed complaints with the criminal justice system in France, where the abuse took place.
Labaky was stripped of his priesthood less than a year later.
The Congregation is charged by the Vatican with “promoting and protecting doctrine and morals in conformity with the faith throughout the Catholic world,” according to a Vatican statement at the time.