ROME — The Melkite Greek Catholic Church leader will ask the pope to recognise the Palestinian state when he arrives next week for his first visit to Lebanon, a country riven by religious rivalries, a Catholic website said Thursday.
Patriarch Gregory III Laham, the spiritual head of Lebanon’s second largest Catholic community, will be the first to address the pope during a welcome ceremony near the Lebanese capital and insist on the large role of the Palestinian cause in the Arab world, The website “www.lbpapalvisit.com” has already published the speech Gregory III is to make at the Melkite Greek Catholic basilica of St. Paul in the mountain village of Harissa on the outskirts of Beirut, said I.MEDIA news agency which is close to the Vatican.
Gregory will thank the Holy See and its leaders for their “firm and unwavering position on the (Palestinian) cause”.
He will also ask the Holy See to “recognise the Palestinian state in compliance with the resolutions and decisions of the international community and international law”.
The recognition, which the patriarch called a “courageous step of fairness, justice and truth”, would allow the Holy See to remain a “pioneer of world justice” and prompt European and other countries to follow.
It would also “be a guarantee for the solution of most of the very complex problems of the Arab and Muslim world” and stop the emigration of Christians from the region.
The Melkites are an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Vatican.
During a meeting in the Vatican last year Benedict XVI and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said there was an “urgent need” for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Any resolution to the conflict would have to respect the rights of all parties including through “the attainment of the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations for an independent state”, a statement said at the time.
They also reiterated “that soon the State of Israel and the Palestinian State must live in security, at peace with their neighbours and within internationally recognised borders”.
The Middle East peace process has been a constant concern for the pope, who called for the creation of two states during a visit to the region in 2009.
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SOURCE: Al Arabiya News
Eastern Catholic Church head calls for Pope’s mediation in Syria
By ReutersDamascus
The Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church calls for Pope Benedict to be a mediator in trying to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria.Gregorios III Laham, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem of the Melkite-Greek Catholic Church on Thursday (September 6) called on Pope Benedict to mediate try Europe to help bring about an end to the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Laham said he would ask the Pope, who is scheduled to visit Lebanon on September 14, to adopt a mediator role.
“I will tell the Pope that we are not politicians. I will tell him the importance of the Pope’s mediation in order to unite the world to solve the Syrian crisis that has cost so much blood, pains, hatred and tragedy,” he said.
Laham further appealed to his fellow Christians in Syria to remain in the country.
“I wish and I urge my Christian brothers to stay. Not as Christians only but also as Syrian citizens with their brothers. Syrian society needs Christians and that is what we want to ensure and convince our children. No matter how hard the situation is, we should be patient,” he said.
Some countries in Europe, including Germany, have looked into the possibility of allowing Syrian Christians to emigrate.
Violence in Syria continued on Thursday as Syrian army mortar and artillery bombardment of an area of southern Damascus where Palestinian refugees live killed at least 20 people, residents and local emergency workers said.
Yarmouk camp and the districts surrounding it have seen the most prolonged fighting in the capital since forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad launched a counter-offensive to push rebels out of the city two months ago.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in Syria since initially peaceful protests against Assad erupted in March 2011.
Tens of thousands more have fled across its borders to neighboring states to escape the violence.
From his office, located in the al-Zaitoun church built in 1834, Lahham said Syrian Christians should remain in Syria because it was their country.
“Europe does not understand the meaning of the Christians in the region. We should not maintain Christians as if they were rare animals that should be in a safe place. The Christian should be in their country with and for the others,” he said.
“I am in a country of a Muslim majority. I am with my Muslim brothers, for the Muslim society in order to develop it in history, literature, cinema, art and everything else. Our Arab world needs Christians today even in the development of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he added.
“Every real Arab-Muslim needs the Christian society that is a part of the Oriental-Arab combination,” Laham said.
Regional tensions appeared to be exacerbated on Thursday as Syria condemned calls by Egypt's president for change in the country, saying they amounted to blatant interference in its internal affairs.
The 79-year old Patriarch called for reconciliation and expressed his readiness to take part in any such attempt between all sides.
“As a Syrian church, we want to serve the reconciliation that St. Paul talked about. During these hard conditions in Syria we would have a role as a church in the reconciliation that joins all Syrians no matter what are their requests or positions,” he said.
“Even the opposition or what we called 'gunmen' to every human I say: Come to a common word between us,” he added.
The 18-month crisis in the country has put pressure on the Christian community although they have chosen to be neutral in the ongoing conflict.
While he was in the centre of the old city old Damascus, Laham called everybody not to fear even if some things may be frightening.
“Jesus says: Do not fear. This means that despite the reasons of fear we should be strong,” he said.
Christians represent ten percent of the total Syrian population.
Damascus and Aleppo have a large Christian population and one archbishop from the Melkite-Greek Catholic church, Jean-Clement Jeanbart, fled to Lebanon last week, with a number of priests, after his offices were ransacked in Aleppo, according to the Catholic news agency Fides.
Fides said unidentified groups wanted to “feed a religious war” in Syria.
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