"Can we forget the tragedy of Lebanon resulting from the intervention of external forces, who are trying to push its people to abandon their positive neutrality for personal interests and to lose their roots and identity?". This is the question posed today Monday by the Maronite Patriarch, Bechara al-Rahi during the annual Mass for France on this Easter Monday, in the presence of the French ambassador, Hervé Magro.
He stressed that "the number of victims is multiplying, the destruction is on the rise and the losses are immeasurable".
The Patriarch also indicated that "the south of Lebanon is an innocent victim in all this".
"We are currently witnessing a return to the language of war, in the context of two tragedies: the first between Ukraine and Russia, with the support of more than one country for this part or that, and the second, the Israeli-Palestinian war without hope of near peace, with the loss of human lives that tear the heart", he lamented.
He added: "We pray for France, a friend of Lebanon, and for Lebanon, which France and its people have loved with all their hearts". "For us and for the world, France is a sign of hope for the values of freedom, equality and fraternity," he explained, hoping that "God will accept our prayers for our two countries, that our hearts will be touched by the grace of Easter, that our minds will be directed to everything that is true, our wishes to what is right, and that France and Lebanon will remain countries of holiness".