LEBANON: MARONITE BISHOPS, “REJECT DIVISIONS FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY”

(SIR) A stronger national unity, in view of the elections, more solidarity among Lebanese people as well as respect for the rules and for the journalist ethics when speaking about the Church. This request was made by the Maronite Bishops who had gathered for their monthly assembly under the leadership of Card. Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, last 4th March. At the end of the assembly, they issued a final declaration which was released today. “The serious and tense situation that is taking hold of the country, where one side is denigrating the other, is not showing a true national spirit,” the document states. “Lebanese people should improve their relationships.” This “defamation climate” is of no benefit for next elections. The countries with a long democratic history, even those who are much bigger than Lebanon, hold their elections without plots and polemics.” “We are urged by the global situation to reject divisions so that we do not feel strangers in our country. We have to take advantage of these new circumstances to become more united and to protect our country from potential dangers,” said the bishops. In the statement, the bishops denounced a lack of professionalism by some media that “have manipulated some news even by inventing the name of a Maronite priest, who does not exist, thus attributing to him a completely made up story”.