Sfeir: time to turn the page to tackle new situation
The cardinal steered clear of controversies surrounding the bishops' indirect backing of the Siniora government, but evoked the threat of new destruction that could arise from division.
Beirut (AsiaNews) Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has pointed to the need to "turn the page with regard to the past" and to tackle "seriously the new situation facing us". Meanwhile, he steered clear of controversies arising from criticism levelled at the Maronite bishops for their indirect support of the Siniora government.
The bishops defended the current Lebanese government in their meeting last Wednesday. Their stand was prompted by fears that the possible overthrow of the government may lead to the indefinite postponement of the international process into the murder of the ex-premier Rafic Hariri. The bishops therefore criticized those who, in their bid to bring down the government, would end up serving the interests of other countries.
During Mass at Bkerke yesterday, Cardinal Sfeir said: "No one can escape from his responsibilities, especially those who have been placed by the people in positions of responsibility." The patriarch compared Lebanon to one big family. "If its children become distant from one another for reasons that are not a secret for anybody, the result will be more ruin and destruction. No one in this country is ignorant of the extent to which we need to turn the page of a hateful past, to tackle new circumstances seriously and with solidarity, and to adopt effective measures capable of bringing Lebanon out of its torpor and of stopping the emigration of youth, who represent the future of the country."
The MPs Boutros Harb and Georges Adwan, who were received by the patriarch after mass, defended the bishops' intervention and their "equidistance". Harb insisted that the stands taken by Bkerke were "national". "Without the appeal of the Maronite bishops in 2000, the revolution of the Cedars would never have happened," said Adwan. "Without the reconciliation of the Mountain with Walid Joumblatt, agreement would not exist in this region; without the stand taken on the electoral law of 2000, the elections would never have been what they were." When the patriarchate took a stand, he added, it was "to avert danger".
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07/02/2019 17:28
