Lebanon: Bishops urge country to remain neutral

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai

Bishops in the Lebanon say the country can only avoid the many pitfalls that threaten its stability if it remains out of the wars raging on its borders and maintain its "neutrality before the on-going conflicts at a regional and international level".

The Council of Maronite Bishops gathered for their monthly meeting yesterday, Wednesday, 7 August at Dimane, the patriarchal summer seat. The bishops, under the presidency of Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai, also addressed a direct criticism to the two opposing national political blocs - that of 'March 14' and that of ''March 8' - which are held
responsible for the institutional paralysis that is making the country sink into a more and more explosive social and economic crisis.

In statement the bishops said they "express their concern and that of the Lebanese people before the political paralysis that affects the constitutional institutions because of the extreme vertical divisions of the political class, polarized into two opposite fronts, that each try to monopolize power and impose their point of view".

A degeneration, that makes the formation of a "government: effective and capable of ensuring stability in the economic, social and security" more and more urgent and the reaching of an agreement on an electoral system that allows to resume the practice of democracy and renewal of the political elite through "an authentic representation of all the Lebanese parties on the basis of equality enshrined in the Constitution". On the issue of Syrian refugees, the Maronite bishops repeat that solidarity with the refugees is a "national duty". The Maronite bishops also expressed solidarity with the regular Lebanese Armed Forces, recently attacked in the border areas with Syria.

Source: Fides