Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai continues to consider Sleiman Frangieh as a credible presidential candidate thanks to the consent of the Lebanese political forces that allow the election of a political Maronite as President of the Lebanese republic. The Primate of the Maronite Church yesterday urged "parliamentary and political blocs to take into account the initiative "primarily supported by Saad Hariri, the leader of the Sunni Party - "Future". Only by choosing the path of national consultations - remarked Patriarch Rai - Lebanese politicians "will fulfill their constitutional obligations, will take on their responsibilities". The new appeal to the ruling class in Lebanon was expressed yesterday by the Patriarch during his meeting with Maronite ecclesiastical Tribunals, received for the beginning of the judicial year 2015-2016. The Patriarch reiterated that the institutional paralysis of Lebanon is slowly blocking the entire country, also at an economical and security level.
The delicate institutional Lebanese system reserves the presidential office to a Christian, the country has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and every possible solution has been sabotaged by vetoes between the two blocs - the "March 8" and "March 14" coalitions that dominate the Lebanese political scene. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 19/12/2015)
