Pope urges religious leaders to denounce 'blasphemy' of violence in God's name
- Mar 6, 2021
Lebanon’s former foreign minister said Sunday that last week’s U.S. sanctions targeted him over alleged corruption because he repeatedly refused Washington’s calls to severe ties with Iran-backed Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese militant and political group.
The U.S. Treasury on Friday slapped sanctions on Lebanon’s former foreign minister and a leading Christian political ally of the militant Hezbollah group, singling him out for what it said was his role in corruption.
Marking the anniversary of Lebanon’s massive popular uprising against the corrupt political class, Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai encouraged the country’s young people to continue their protest movement.
Scotland’s leading Catholic international aid agency is helping to provide emergency supplies such as blankets, cooking kits, hot meals and help with schooling for thousands of families affected by the Aug. 4 Beirut blast in Lebanon.
Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders “are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands.”
Lebanon’s president said Monday that the crisis-hit country could be going to “hell” if a new government was not formed, suggesting it would require a “miracle” for that to happen at this point.
Both Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pope’s most senior aide, and British Archbishop Paul Gallagher, head of the pope’s diplomatic service, have been on the road trying to carry the pope’s message in the absence of his physical presence.
Just weeks before Pope Francis is set to sign a new encyclical on human fraternity, the head of the Maronite Church is pointing to his own country of Lebanon as an example of how Christians and Muslims can peacefully live together.