Al-Rahi Preaches New National Pact to Neutralize Lebanon
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on the occasion of St. Maroun Day on Thursday his call for the adoption of a new social pact to renew the national pact of 1943.
During a sermon at the St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut, al-Rahi said the new pact would be based on mutual respect, equality and cooperation that would neutralize Lebanon and steer it clear of regional and international axes.
The national pact is an agreement that laid the foundation of Lebanon as a multi-confessional state.
Al-Rahi reiterated the need for dialogue among religions mainly with Muslims, saying “the apostolic exhortation reminds us that the advancement of Lebanon is a joint mission.”
“We should preserve cooperation, equality and balance among the different components of the Lebanese society in accordance with the constitution and its spirit,” he said.
The mass was attended by President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Najib Miqati and other top officials.
The patriarch also called in his sermon for commitment to the improvement of people’s rights at the economic and social levels.
“Lebanon’s glory could only be achieved through the unity of its people and their coexistence,” al-Rahi said.
He finally urged Maronites to preserve the value of openness to the world.
St. Maroun was a 5th century monk who after his death was followed by a religious movement that became known as the Maronites. His holiness and miracles attracted many followers.
After his death in the year 410, his spirit and teachings lived on through his disciples. He is buried in Brad village, north of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
09 February 2012, 13:40
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Translation: All lebanese should bring their allegiances within the Lebanese borders.
09 February 2012, 14:11
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monseigneur rahi:
is there a place in ur new pact for people who keep religion at home, and live and love civicly outside?????????
09 February 2012, 17:04
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My fellow Shiite brother FlameThrower bashir gemayel never spoke of " true neutrality " and he called for a 100 000 strong army . Besides when he said that the magnificent Sayyed Hassan and his assorted magnificent saints were calling him a Zionist , ask our other fellow Shiite brothers and Zionist sniffing bloodhounds Jabalamel and mowaten and the magnificent MP Nawwaf Al Mossawi . HAYDAR HAYDAR HAUDAR !!!
09 February 2012, 17:11
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@ flamethrower, for once i agree with you. If bachir was here, we would not be in this shitty situation. he would have elevated Lebanon to another level, and put back all of these dummy politicians in place. As well would have stopped wastas, and people that are useless at their national jobs.
09 February 2012, 19:27
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humm.. I wonder what Hassan thinks about a neutral Lebanon.. crap he's gonna start screaming at us again.
09 February 2012, 20:41
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Al Rahi: does he support a census to see how many Lebanese are Muslim and how many are Christian, so that a "pact" of "equality" does not mean that 75% who are Muslim, perhaps, "agree" to share Parliament equally with the 25% who are Christian?
10 February 2012, 03:03
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Chrisrushlau... Please see the same cut and paste comment that was in reply to your same previously ignorant post.
"The electoral role (those eligible to vote in lebanon) published by the interior ministry puts christains at 39.5%. Plus the 90% of lebanese diaspora (approx 8 million) are Christian." Granted, most are 1, 2nd and even 3rd generation with little connection with Lebanon except through teta's cooking. But even 1 million of them would see the christains as majority.
There is an attempt, from the days of Kissinger, to portray Lebanon and the middle east as Muslim, extremist and Israel the beacon of light for democracy and the defenders of Christian rights in the holy land. Don't fall into this trap.
09 February 2012, 21:36
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Democracy is not achieved only by majority rule. It needs a set of laws and a constitution based on the respect of individual freedoms including religious freedoms and the protection of human rights.
Once all Lebanese agree on these principles the sect or religion of the ruler are no longer relevant.
Before having secualr government se have to have secular minds first!
09 February 2012, 22:22
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J'adore ce Patriarch sage!
We as Lebanese have a patriarch thinking of Lebanon in the current situation where countries around us are in rough 'transition' and statements of wars from Israel & Iran.
Lebanon's Patriarch is clever enough to handle things wisely.
09 February 2012, 22:31
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He's so neutral that he's praying for Assad the murderer of Lebanese and Syrians to win and stay in power.
09 February 2012, 22:51
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Listen people:
"A new national pact that would be 1."based on mutual respect", 2."equality" and 3."cooperation" that would 4."neutralize Lebanon" and 5."steer it clear of regional and international axes".
Love the first Reference of Mutual Respect.
The Fourth is an old Idea, and a Very Plausible idea to "neutralise Lebanon" in a World where Iran and Israel are launching words of war. Just a few days ago Nasrallah publicly said, "Iran (dosen't usually)/didn't ask Hezbollah to launch a war on Israel if Israel hit Iran."
A good time to bring this up, acknowledging the fact that we need 'steering away from being affiliated with regional and international axes'.
10 February 2012, 01:35
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@chrisrushlau,firstly ya Chris the Christian population of Lebanon is not 25 %, when there are so many refugees seeking Lebanese nutralization its hard to get the correct estimates. There is an estimated over 1/2 million reugees whom mostly are Muslim, are we to write these off as Lebanese.
Secondly Ya Chris, the statistics clearly state that the Christian population outside Lebanon is overwhelming an approx 10 million of Lebanese origin just in South America. It is the reason why HA does not support the Diaspora from voting, it will swing heavily against their majority in Lebanon.
10 February 2012, 04:18
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I think its time people leave religion at home and in your heart and put Lebanon first.
The first President of Lebanon was Orthodox and he did a great job, why should religion have anything to do with who the BEST MAN is to run the country! The amount of attention world wide Lebanon gets from political to financial help is amazing and this poor little country is still running in reverse gear.... where has it all gone wrong????
Lebanon has everything to offer but the people don't! what if Lebanon had nothing to offer?? Would the people try and make something out of it then?
10 February 2012, 04:55
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The fact of the matter is that there are 200 million lebanese christian decendents around the world.
about 50 million of them are sons/daughters of parents who were born in Lebanon.
The fact is that if Lebanon was to conduct a real international census of lebanese in diaspora then the Christians would outnumber the muslims 10 to 1
10 February 2012, 06:38
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Majnoun enta ya cedar? never in the history of lebanon have its population exceeded 4 million as today. And this is the most that ever have been here. Up until 100 years ago the population in lebanon was 150 thousand only.
And more importantly, we were syrian up until recently so there is no such thing as lebanese descendands, we are all descendant from syrians. Were lebanese because our region is called lebanon, thats all. Dont toy around with facts and history, the french lied to you when they tried to to create a maronite state by feeding syrian maronites with fake history and nationalism.
Grow up and seek happiness in whats good instead in arrogance and self destructive nationalism. All ppl are from adam and eve.
