Al-Rahi Criticizes 'Cold-blooded' MPs over Baabda Vacuum, Extension
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi slammed on Monday “cold-blooded” lawmakers for violating the constitution by causing a vacuum at the presidential palace and extending their own term.
MPs are using their power to cause paralysis in the presidency because of personal and foreign interests, said al-Rahi in his opening statement at the 48th meeting of the council of catholic patriarchs and bishops in Lebanon.
He “condemned the lawmakers who are causing vacuum in the legislative branch and violating the constitution, and going against the will of the people.”
Last week, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to extend their mandate by another two years and seven months, skipping scheduled elections for the second consecutive time.
The vote now gives parliament eight full years in power— double its allowed mandate — to June 2017. Ninety-five lawmakers among those who showed up voted in favor of the extension, while two opposed.
Thirty one boycotted the session altogether in protest over the controversial decision.
Al-Rahi has even slammed boycotting MPs, saying they should show their protest to the extension by announcing their resignations.
Al-Rahi said Monday the conferees will discuss the fate of the Christian family in addition to other issues.
He warned in his opening statement that the “the family is under threat in Lebanon.”
“The state is responsible for guaranteeing the needs of the family,” he said at the start of the conference which was also attended by a Vatican representative, Archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn.
“The church will double its efforts in meeting the needs of the family … Civil society should also exert efforts to preserve the family and protect it,” said al-Rahi.
The meeting of the council of catholic patriarchs and bishops comes a month after al-Rahi attended at the Vatican a landmark synod of bishops on the family under Pope Francis.
The bishops and a small number of lay figures spent two weeks addressing the gulf between what the church says about issues such as divorce and cohabitation and what many followers actually do.
But the bishops failed to reach a consensus on opening the church's doors to remarried divorcees and gays.
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