Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, delivered this morning from the ‘Church of Our Lady’ in Bkirki, the message of Christmas entitled, expressing his well-wishes to the Lebanese people in general, and Christians in particular, residing in the homeland and the countries of the Diaspora.

In his homily, the Patriarch said: “We condemn the brutal genocidal war on Gaza and call on the United Nations and the Security Council to stop this war out of mercy for innocent civilians.”

The Patriarch blamed the officials for committing a crime against the Presidency of the Republic, the constitutional institutions, and the people as they continued to depend on the election of a head of state to a person, project, or hidden goal, saying: ‘The victim is the state with its entity and the people with their rights.’

He asked: ‘Why do you want to destroy the state by not electing a president when you know very well that there is no state without a president?’

Commenting on the House of Representatives’ app
roval of the legal amendment to regulate the budget of private schools, Al-Rahi considered that this law ‘raised strong objection from Catholic schools to some of its provisions that unjustly harm the schools and the students’ families, which led to the declaration of an open strike that we do not need, and we call on concerned parties to a dialogue session.’
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon