Al-Rahi Meets Pope, Requests His Blessing for Lebanon, Middle East

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met on Wednesday Pope Francis I with whom he took part in the daily mass held at the Vatican.

The patriarch then held a closed-door meeting with the pontiff during which he requested that he offer his blessing to Lebanon and the Middle East.

He hoped that he would also pray for its people and that “God would answer the prayers of the pontiff in the church and the world.”

Al-Rahi is scheduled to remain in Rome to attend a three-day conference on immigrants and the displaced.

He is expected to address the situation in the Middle East and the case of Palestinian, Iraqi, and Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The patriarch arrived in the Vatican at the end of a tour of South America before returning to Lebanon later this week.