Pope Francis has these weeks been making frequent appeals to pray for peace in the Middle East and for stability in Lebanon. In the background, the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Raï, held a historic meeting in Riyadh (Arabia) with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Rafael Miner
Saudi Arabia and Iran are not only engaged in their own particular battle in Yemen and Qatar. The one affected now, with a worrying intensity, is Lebanon, the country of the cedars, where 40 percent of the 4.5 million inhabitants are Christian, which is not the case in other countries of the Middle East.
What is happening in Beirut, and by extension throughout Lebanon, cannot be considered to be within the framework of normality. In March 2014, President Suleiman served out his term and left office. Political rivalry was accentuated, due to the terrible war in bordering Syria. Finally, in October 1016, largely thanks to the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï, who called for a responsible attitude, the parties reached an agreement with the election of the new president, the Christian Michel Aoun.
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