Al-Rahi Praises Suleiman's Rejection of Mandate Extension

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hailed on Friday President Michel Suleiman's rejection to extend his mandate and warned that changes introduced to the Lebanese entity are leading to the violation of the nation's principles.

“We back your efforts to hold the presidential elections on time so that there would be rotation of power that characterizes Lebanon's democracy,” al-Rahi told Suleiman during a speech he made in Bkirki at a ceremony to launch a book on former Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Beirut last year.

“The changes of the Lebanese entity are being manifested by the violation of the national principles,” he warned.

Al-Rahi said he backed Suleiman's efforts to hold national dialogue, and urged the parliament to approve a new law that would guarantee equality among the Lebanese and hold the elections on time.

He reiterated the need to form a new all-embracing cabinet capable of confronting all challenges.

The patriarch criticized efforts to turn Lebanon and its “institutions into the victim of the sectarian conflict in Lebanon, which is linked to the conflict in the region.”

Addressing Suleiman, al-Rahi said: “You showed the pope Lebanon's coexistence and the rotation of power.”

Suleiman also made a speech at the ceremony, calling for “implementing the results” of the pope's visit in Sept. 2012.

The Lebanese showed that they were capable of organizing the “successful visit” despite rumors of security threats, he said.

The president urged Christians to implement the Apostolic Exhortation.

The pope's exhortations were made public during his three-day visit to Lebanon when he put his signature to recommendations emerging from a synod of bishops he had convened three years ago to examine the future of the Christian minority in the region and its relations with Islam and Judaism.

Suleiman called for dialogue, freedom, openness, the adoption of democratic and humanitarian values, and the rejection of terrorism and extremism.

Al-Rahi handed Suleiman the first copy of the book on Benedict XVI's visit.

They later held closed-door talks.