Churches look to build a new future for Lebanon

One of the key issues at the heart of the daylong meeting in Rome on Thursday between Pope Francis and Lebanon’s various Church leaders centered on how Christians can help the Middle Eastern country emerge from its current crisis.

The pope invited the hierarchs to the Vatican for "a day of reflection on the worrying situation in (Lebanon) and to pray together for the gift of peace and stability".

The papal initiative comes at a time when the daily life of the Lebanese people, already very difficult since the autumn of 2019, now looks like a descent into hell.

An economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude has plunged more than half the population below the poverty line.

This has been coupled with an inextricable political impasse between the primary holders of power, which has prevented the formation of a new government for more than ten months.

With a fragile balance of communities since the creation of Greater Lebanon 100 years ago, the country is governed by a complex system of power sharing between the principal faiths, which some observers see as one of the causes of the current paralysis.

In recent months, several Christian religious leaders, including Cardinal Béchara Raï, the Maronite patriarch, have made no secret of their concerns for the future of Lebanon. 

They have called for the establishment of Lebanese "neutrality" so that the country "is no longer hostage to (external) conflicts", particularly "regional wars". 

They have also lobbied for an "international conference" to be held under the aegis of the United Nations. 

"Since 1943, Lebanon has never had time to consolidate its independence," says Souraya Bechealany, ecclesiologist and honorary general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). 

"Very quickly, we accepted that others would settle their disputes on our land, with our participation," she adds.

Foreign interference

There has been interference facilitated by the "allegiances" each community has to its sponsor, points out this 58-year-old Maronite.

"The Sunnis with Saudi Arabia, the Christians with the West and the Shia with Iran," Bechealany says, citing a well-known adage in the country. 

"This small country offered a message to the world that it was possible to live together on the same land and welcome diversity," she says.

"The great problem for Lebanon is the external interventions. We are in a state of suffering because of our neighbors," adds Raymond Nader, founder of the Liban Message Movement and the executive director of Télé-Lumière’s satellite channel, Noursat.

 "We need to build a country with a strong government that brings us security," he insists. 

"We are hostages," notes Rafic Bazerji, president of the Latin League.  

He believes Cardinal Rai’s proposal "is the best solution to keep the country away from conflicts". 

Bechealany says the various churches in Lebanon must "work together, not only theologically but concretely".

"We have a vital mission and we are not putting it at the service of human dignity," she maintains.

But the Maronite ecumenical leader says there’s a "lack of vision and common strategy, a lack of good governance" within the various Lebanese Churches.

Such collaboration is now more necessary than ever since the communities find themselves less and less a part of the current political parties while still setting themselves up as defenders of the rights of Christians. 

"I don't recognize myself in their discourse, but in the Gospel, in the Church of the people of God and in my religious congregation," confides Gabriel Khairallah, a Jesuit priest. 

He’d like to see "politicians who work for the rights of all Lebanese citizens to have a dignified life, not just Christians".

The absence of a strong nation-state

Khairallah believes that "the state has been taken hostage by political parties claiming to be communitarian, and which take religious communities hostage, the better to share the cake".

He also blames the deep crisis affecting Lebanon on "the absence of a strong nation-state and the absence of a sense of citizenship" among the general population, where people first identify with being part of their particular community before being Lebanese.

"In essence, the Lebanese can live together, but the politicians have hijacked the confessional system to maintain their positions and create fear of the other," laments Raymond Yazbeck, a Greek Orthodox who directs the choir at the Mount Lebanon School of Ecclesiastical Music. 

He says there must be "a system of citizenship where all people are equal before the law". 

"First of all, our big problem is that the mafias rule in Lebanon. Even with the best system in the world, that can't work," Raymond Nader adds.

"Everything is locked, corruption has become a system that leads to the disintegration of Lebanese society,” says Bechealany.

“This is why I think that the role of the Church today is to dare to carry a prophetic voice, to loudly denounce evil and to build good in the service of dignity to stop the hemorrhaging not only of Christians, but of all the youth who want to leave the country," she insists.

"The Churches do not think together"

In a Lebanon that is in the midst of an existential crisis, the meeting organized at the Vatican seems more essential than ever.

Khairallah, the Jesuit, expects Pope Francis to send a "message of hope" and "encouragement" to Lebanese Christians, "telling them not to be afraid of their Muslim brothers because it is with them (that they will have to) build this nation".

He hopes the pope will be able to "use his influence to push Europe and the United States to put pressure on the Lebanese political class".

Rafic Bazerji, president of the Latin League, is also counting on the Vatican to pressurize its international partners to help find a resolution to the crisis.

But above all, he hopes that "the Churches and the Vatican will give greater encouragement to Lebanese young people not to emigrate".

"Secular organizations are helping more than the clergy. We at the Latin League are overwhelmed by requests for help from people who no longer have enough to live on," he laments.

Bechealany agrees.  

"Through their words, the Churches encourage young people to stay, they could do more, but they do not think together,” she says with regret.