Al-Rahi: We Can’t Survive if we Have Loyalties Abroad
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has described Lebanon’s pluralism as a “treasure” but warned against what he called “the illness of loyalties” to other countries both in the East and West.
At a ceremony held in his honor in the city of Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio on Monday, al-Rahi said: “Pluralism is a big treasure for Lebanon and what distinguishes Lebanon is its plurality.”
“But we have another illness which we should courageously announce. It is our loyalty to outside Lebanon,” he lamented. “I don’t understand how a person could be Lebanese and have loyalty abroad?” al-Rahi asked.
“We can’t live and have loyalties abroad both in the East and West,” he stressed in a stop on his pastoral visit to the U.S.
Al-Rahi addressed the international community and the U.S., saying “Lebanon is the door to the East … where all religions and cultures meet.”
“That’s why we hope that no one would asses Lebanon based on the 10,452-sq-km (territory) but rather on its fundamental role in the Middle East,” he added.
Earlier in the day, he held a mass at Saint Maroun church.
In Chicago a day earlier, the patriarch urged Lebanese expatriates to register to vote at embassies abroad to preserve the demographic balance among Lebanon’s sects.
“If you don’t register, we will be out,” Al-Rahi told members of Chicago’s Maronite community.
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