A tool for reconnecting with Lebanese emigrants
Beirut (AsiaNews) - The "Maronite foundation in the world", officially launched yesterday, is intended to be a tool to combat the uprooting of Lebanese emigrants. Created through a patriarchal decree, and headed by former minister Michel Eddé, the new body, in the words of patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, "is intended to reestablish contact with Lebanese emigrants, and encourage them to enroll their children in the national registers, so that they may recover Lebanese citizenship".
The concern over emigration is a regular theme in the reflections of the patriarch, who on this occasion as well explained the reasons for his disquiet. "No one", he said, "is unaware that the number of Lebanese is falling in the country because of emigration, which is affecting all the communities. There have been more than one million expatriates, Christian and Muslim, since 1970, and this phenomenon represents a threat to Islamic-Christian equilibrium".
The cardinal finally referred to the controversial question of the granting of citizenship in the past "to people who do not have the right to it, while many Lebanese emigrants have been deprived of it. Correcting mistakes on this level would be a praiseworthy initiative". Also "praiseworthy", in his words, is the creation of this foundation. In this regard, the patriarch recounted that during the trips he has made to the United States, to Australia, Spain, South Africa, and Qatar, he has met with the Lebanese communities, especially the Christian and above all the Maronite communities, which he has urged to reestablish connections with their homeland. "All of them", he emphasized, "are nostalgic for Lebanon", and this makes the work that the new foundation is called to do of particular importance.
.png)
