"Enough of using Lebanon and the Middle East!", Pope cries outDay of prayer for LebanonChristians, key to Lebanon's stabilityLebanon had been without a government for more than a year, following the resignation of the cabinet in August last year, a week after the tremendous explosion in the port of Beirut, which left nearly 200 dead, more than 6,000 injured, and around 300,000 affected.
The new government will be headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim leader, considered the richest man in the country, and will have 24 members, according to the decree signed by Najib Mikati with Maronite Christian President Michel Aoun, in the presence of the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
New government
The new team includes personalities who enjoy a good reputation, such as Firas Abiad, director of the Rafic-Hariri government hospital, who is leading the fight against Covid-19 and will be in charge of Health; or Yusef Khalil, the next head of Finance. According to initial reports, the cabinet includes only one woman, Najla Riachi, former Lebanese ambassador to the UN. The government, with 22 portfolios plus the prime minister and vice president, is expected to hold its first meeting as early as Monday.
Of the 22 cabinet ministers, eleven are Muslims and eleven are Christians of various denominations. At present, Maronite Christians account for about 40 percent of the population, while 60 percent are Muslims, including Shiites (27 %), Sunnis (24 %) and Druze (5%).
"While it is true that the Lebanese political system may facilitate a partisan and confessional use of office, in reality it is not so much the system that fails as the use made of it. [...]. On the other hand, to pretend, in a country like Lebanon, to leave religion aside when it comes to structuring institutions is nothing short of utopian, since in this part of the world religion is part of personal and (in many cases) social identity", explained Ferrán Canet, Omnes correspondent in Lebanon.
Serious economic situation in Lebanon
Lebanon currently has around 4.5 million inhabitants, and hosts more than one million Syrian refugees, and more than half a million Palestinians. It is arguably on the edge. The country's severe economic crisis since the summer of 2019, has been getting worse and worse, to the point that the World Bank has called it one of the worst in the world since 1850. Nearly 80 percent of the Lebanese population now lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.
"If in any country in the world the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic have left the feeling of living a special moment, in Lebanon the confinement and the other problems derived from the pandemic have actually taken second place, behind an economic crisis that has caused many Lebanese to lose half of their purchasing power, and the prices of products have tripled in many cases," wrote Ferran Canet in October 2020 from Lebanon. And in these months, the situation has worsened enormously, with a serious financial crisis, inflation, and strong labor instability.
No light
The panorama is now one of a "free fall of the local currency, unprecedented banking restrictions, fuel and medicine shortages... The country has been plunged into darkness for several months, with power cuts of up to 22 hours a day. The generators in the neighborhoods, which usually take over, also ration energy for homes, companies and institutions due to lack of sufficient gasoline. The price of this product has increased and oil is becoming increasingly scarce in a country with little foreign currency and in the midst of the lifting of subsidies for several basic products", describes AFP.
The patriarch Raï
Everything possible must be done to create a new Lebanese government before August 4, the first anniversary of the terrible explosion that devastated the port of Beirut a year ago. That was the last urgent appeal of Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, to Lebanese politicians not to let this symbolic date pass without providing the country with a new executive.
According to the Fides AgencyThe appeal came during the homily of the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the patriarch on Sunday, July 25 in Diman, in the church of the patriarchal summer residence, just on the eve of the new round of consultations between the national political forces and the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, which was to begin on July 26. If the politicians had not managed to reconstruct in one year the dynamics and responsibilities of the port catastrophe, they should at least feel the duty to give the Lebanese people a new government, said Cardinal Raï.
The appeal of the Catholic patriarch, a person of great moral authority in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, came a few weeks after Pope Francis gathered Christian, Orthodox and Protestant patriarchs in Rome in early July for a day of prayer and reflection, during which the Holy Father appealed to Lebanon's vocation as a "land of tolerance and pluralism".
Francis: "Urgent and stable solutions".
"In these times of misfortune we want to affirm with all our strength that Lebanon is, and must continue to be, a plan of peace," the Roman Pontiff noted at the Vatican. "Its vocation is to be a land of tolerance and pluralism, an oasis of fraternity where different religions and confessions meet, where diverse communities coexist, putting the common good before particular advantages."
Then, in an ecumenical prayer in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope made a solemn appeal to Lebanese citizens, political leaders, Lebanese in the diaspora, the international community, and addressed each group in particular:
"To you, citizens: do not be demoralized, do not lose heart, find in the roots of your history the hope to flourish again."
"To you, political leaders: that, in accordance with your responsibilities, you may find urgent and stable solutions to the current economic, social and political crisis, remembering that there is no peace without justice."
"To you, dear Lebanese in the Diaspora: to put the best energies and resources at your disposal at the service of your homeland."
"To you, members of the international community: with your common effort, may the conditions be in place so that the country does not sink, but embarks on a path of recovery. This will be good for everyone.
The Pope's wish
Following his trip to Iraq earlier this year, Pope Francis has said in recent months that he would like to travel to Lebanon, but would wait for a government to be formed. In a Memorandum on Lebanon and Active Neutrality In the August issue of last year, the main lines of which were reported by Omnes, Cardinal Patriarch Raï formulated a proposal for the stability of the country. The patriarch is convinced that neutrality guarantees the maintenance of Lebanon's identity, for which he advocates a policy of "non-alignment". It is now logical that the formation of the new government should allow the international community to provide emergency humanitarian aid.
In July, the Pope encouraged us to ask for peace without tiring. "Let us ask for it with insistence for the Middle East and for Lebanon. This beloved country, a treasure of civilization and spirituality, which over the centuries has radiated wisdom and culture, which has witnessed a unique experience of peaceful coexistence, cannot be left at the mercy of fate or of those who unscrupulously pursue their own interests."
