Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided over Sunday Mass at “Our Lady’s Church” in Bkirki this morning.
In his homily, the Patriarch pointed to the many challenges facing the Lebanese, “who are suffering, above their poverty, unemployment, and low salaries, from banking, economic, commercial and tourism haphazardness…”
“It is as if the financial legislation in these sectors has also become independent from the laws of the state and from the laws of money and credit,” he said, “from withholding money, to losing dollars, to limiting withdrawals in Lebanese pounds, to currency manipulation by money changers, to preventing transfers needed to cover bare necessities, to accepting credit cards with an increase in the value of the bill, to refusing credit card payments, to imposing payments in cash…It is the financial, daily-living and social bleeding!”
He went on to stress that “the government cannot address this chaotic situation except by reviving the minimum financial system requirements, controlling the state’s income by collecting taxes in all Lebanese regions, controlling the revenues of the airport, ports and borders, stopping all smuggling in and out o the country, and investing marine property.”
At the educational level, al-Rahi considered that “the Banque du Liban and various banks are required to consider school fees as an absolute priority because they affect society, the country’s future and education. Therefore, banks are requested to enable educational institutions to pay their dues from amounts previously deposited in their accounts or by checks paid by parents or transfers from the state or donors.”
The Patriarch moved on to reiterate the importance of Lebanon’s neutrality, “which is at the core of its identity, and which is based on avoiding alliances, axes, political conflicts and regional and international wars, and which requires that the state remains strong with its army and security apparatuses, in order to impose its sovereignty at home and abroad…”
“This neutrality renders Lebanon a ‘message nation’….one that sympathizes with issues of human rights and peoples’ freedom, and takes initiatives for reconciliation and conflict resolution, and works for peace and stability,” he said.
“In the name of humanity and the millions of Ukrainians who have fled to other countries…and in the name of the fallen victims on its territory and the territory of Russia, we denounce this Russian-Ukrainian war and demand its cessation,” the Patriarch asserted, adding that such wars “bring nothing but killing, destruction, displacement, impoverishment, starvation, obliteration of natural wealth and fueling hatred, spite and enmity.”
Referring to the Syrian refugees’ issue, the Patriarch said: “In the name of neutrality, we demand the return of the displaced Syrians to their homeland, in order to preserve the wealth of their land, culture and dignity, and to continue writing their history. Their return is linked to a Lebanese, Arab and international political decision, and their number has exceeded one and a half million, or at least 35% of the population of Lebanon.”
He added: “The absence of this decision has become a conspiracy against Lebanon’s entity, unity, identity and security. Hence, resolving this issue calls for urgency, especially with the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the emergence of new waves of displacement in Europe and the world.”
Patriarch al-Rahi concluded by raising prayers to the Lord Almighty “so that He may plant peace in the hearts, and so that the rulers of states would realize that their primary mission is to strengthen the foundations of internal and external peace.”
Source: National News Agency