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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Syria must go
Lebanese people want withdrawal
Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir of the Maronite Catholic Church has told a Paris newspaper that Muslims and Christians alike want Syrian soldiers to leave Lebanon after years of effective occupation.
“Even if it is not said aloud, there is a Christian-Muslim consensus at a popular level, and Lebanese of all religions say softly what I say with a full voice,” Cardinal Sfeir told Liberation. “The only people who are against our position are those people, Muslims or Christians, who owe their positions to the Syrians and have no interest in change.” He added, “The situation has become unbearable. Lebanon is neither independent nor sovereign and has no freedom to decide for itself. Nothing is done without Syria’s consent and everything takes place as if Lebanon did not exist.”
Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976, but stayed on after other forces left and Damascus has become the dominant political force in the country, ruling the country as a virtual fiefdom. Under the 1989 Taif accord which helped end Lebanon’s civil warfare, Damascus was expected to pull its troops back from Beirut to the eastern Bekaa valley two years after the war ended; but only minor redeployments have taken place.
New Melkite Patriarch
Spiritual leader to over 1 million Eastern Catholics
Archbishop Loutfi Laham has been elected as the new Patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church. The new patriarch, who took the name Gregory III, replaces Patriarch Maximos V Hakim, who resigned at the age of 92 after deciding that he could no longer handle his pastoral responsibilities in the aftermath of a stroke.
Upon his election by the Melkite synod meeting in Lebanon on November 29, the new patriarch promptly asked Pope John Paul II to extend full communion—a request that drew a quick positive response. In an answering message, the Pope praised the “ancient spiritual and liturgical traditions” of the Eastern Church. As the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, Gregory III presides over an Eastern-rite Church that includes about 1.2 million faithful.
Back to Catholic World Report January 2001 Table of Contents