Christian denominations that follow the Eastern calendar celebrate Palm Sunday in the churches of Sour, south Lebanon. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai criticized Lebanese officials on Sunday, saying they should have been "more dedicated to securing the public good and to restoring to the state its effective and legitimate constitutional institutions, starting with the election of a president."
Officials should have also been "ensuring with all their strength to spare South Lebanon and our people from war, which is causing deaths, injuries, displacement and destruction, for the sake of a cause that has nothing to do with Lebanon, its peace and stability," Rai said during Sunday prayers.
Beirut Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi also criticized the country's politicians during his sermon on Palm Sunday, saying “Look at what we see in this country whose capital was destroyed, whose free men and intellectuals were assassinated, whose children were oppressed and whose money was stolen, and whose officials are still there, due to their mismanagement, failure to implement the constitution, and their disregard for constitutional entitlements, the first of which is the election of a president."
He also highlighted "their failure to implement the necessary reforms, pushing citizens to despair, and their educated people to immigrate."
Both Rai and Audi are known to be publicly vocal in their criticism of Lebanese officials. Rai has also been critical of Hezbollah for opening a "support front" with Israel, saying in February that the fighting is not "heroic," as the party claims it to be, but that heroism, as he sees it, consists of "avoiding war, not waging it."