Card Raï slams Hezbollah's 'hegemony'
The Maronite patriarch says it undermines Lebanese "neutrality". The Cardinal openly attacks the Shiite movement, whose politics have aggravated an already critical situation. We need an effective, positive and committed system with a view to neutrality. The Church "is not against Hezbollah", but wants to "live together" and "build our Lebanese society".
Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Hezbollah's "hegemony" policy is the cause of the economic and financial crisis that has been affecting Lebanon for some time, according to Maronite patriarch, Card Beshara Raï. In a first ever attack on the Shiite movement, the prelate said its politics have aggravated an already critical situation.
Speaking yesterday the Cardinal said: "Lebanon is a meeting place for religions and sects that live orderly according to the constitution, the National Pact and the Taef Accord. What’s new today is that there is some sort of hegemony by Hezbullah over the government and Lebanese politics, due to engaging in Arab and international wars and events that Lebanon does not want in the first place." Beirut, the card Raï against Hezbollah's 'hegemony'
This has triggered a "serious political crisis", combined with the "economic, financial and social" one that ends up affecting all citizens. Card Raï warns that now for the good of all, without exception, "there is no salvation" for the nation except through the declaration of an "effective, positive and committed system with a view to neutrality". This would indeed allow us to free ourselves from any confessional ethnic component and from political and military conflicts.
For weeks, Lebanon has been the scene of violent anti-government protests, exacerbated by the hyper-devaluation of the currency and by the worst economic crisis for decades, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Raï, has intervened on several occasions denouncing the risk of poverty and the consequential collapse of the political, social and institutional pact on which nation is based, attacking among the other Amal and Hezbollah (even without mentioning them), which fuel "chaos and revolt".
In his interview with VaticanNews website, the cardinal stressed that the difficulties are related to the "abandonment" of the Arab countries, especially the Gulf, in addition to Europe and the US. "Everyone says - adds the patriarch - that they cannot help Lebanon because, by helping Lebanon, they would help Hezbollah which controls" the nation. "Let's say we are not against Hezbollah, but we want to live together in the same way and build our Lebanese society."
To achieve this "neutrality" mechanism, one or two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council may present a motion to the Secretary-General to create "a positive and effective neutrality system". The question, concludes the Maronite patriarch, will then be put to the vote "counting on an effective role of the Holy See".
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22/09/2020 12:45
04/08/2020 16:51
