Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai at Sunday mass at the patriarchal headquarters in Bkirki, surrounded by Church dignitaries, June 30, 2024. (Credit: NNA)
Politicians "are called to sanctify their activity, and to direct it in such a way as to be of service to human beings and to their spiritual, cultural and economic development," said Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai on Sunday, during mass at the patriarchate's headquarters in Bkirki (Kesrouan district).
"Politicians should consider that their duty to God is to speed up the election of a president of the republic who would restore the confidence of citizens in his person and in the institutions of the state," the prelate added as he delivered his Sunday homily.
Lebanon has been without a president since the end of Michel Aoun's term in October 2022.
Rai also "prayed for peace in Gaza and southern Lebanon," saying that "no one wins in war" and that "heroism consists in making peace." Fear of an escalation in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel persist as daily cross-border strikes, which began on Oct. 8, continue.
The war in Gaza and southern Lebanon was also addressed by the Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Mgr Elias Audi, in his homily at Saint Georges Cathedral. "We suffer from the horrors we witness every day in the land where Christ was born and lived, a savagery and destruction that seems to have come out of another age," he said, referring to the war between Israel and the Hamas movement in Gaza.
"We only have prayer left to pull our region out of this spiral of violence, because the rulers of the land have no other concern than their interests and their positions," he concluded.
This article was originally published in French on L'Orient-Le Jour.