ASIA/LEBANON - The President of Caritas Lebanon: the Maronite Church supports any serious attempt to get out of the institutional crisis

Thursday, 21 January 2016 politics  

Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - The Maronite Church "does not support a presidential candidate over another, but is in favor of any serious solution to enable the Country to emerge from the institutional paralysis and finally elect a new President. In this perspective, the news of an agreement between Geagea and Aoun is seen as positive". This is how Fr. Paul Karam, President of Caritas Lebanon, outlines the attitude of the Maronite Church community in front of the new political scenario in the Country after the leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, announced the availability of his political formation to support the candidacy of former General Michel Aoun, his longtime rival, at the office of President of the Lebanese Republic (see Fides 19/01/2016).
Geagea’s political move is revolutionizing the system of alliances and conflicts that have long characterized the political landscape of Lebanon, and brought the Country to the institutional paralysis that has blocked the election of a new President for 18 months. "Of course", adds Fr. Karam "the Church positively looks at the fact that forces and Christian political leaders in contrast agree to reconstruct the political framework and solve the Country's problems. We now need to see if this attempt will produce concrete results or find insurmountable opposition. But overall, the rapprochement between Geagea and Aoun has spread a sense of novelty throughout the Country, in the hope that it will help bring the Country out of serious institutional crisis".
Michel Aoun is 82 years old. In the delicate institutional system of Lebanon, the President of the Republic is reserved to a Maronite Christian. Maronite Patriarch Boutros Bechara Rai is now in Italy, where he continues to closely follow the developments of the political situation in Lebanon. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 21/01/2016)


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