Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rahi, concluded his official and pastoral visit to the British capital, London, which included meetings with officials in the House of Commons, the government, and some heads of official departments interested in Lebanese affairs, in both its political and economic aspects.

The Patriarch also held meetings with Maronite parishioners and members of Lebanese community residing in London, with intense participation of Lebanese expatriates especially since al-Rahi’s visit was scheduled for 2019 but was postponed due to the Corona epidemic.

In his meetings, the Patriarch touched on various dossiers related to the Lebanese situation, reiterating his call to international powers concerned for Lebanon, including Britain, “to help it politically to overcome its current crisis, and spare it the repercussions of the worsening regional conflict.”

He also renewed his previous call for “creating internal and external conditions to perpetuate Lebanon’s positive neutrality, which guarantees its pluralistic future within its unity, and its historical civilizational message in the East and in the whole world, within the framework of international care and support.”

The economic crisis also featured high during his talks, particularly its serious repercussions in terms of pushing the Lebanese to more emigration, and threatening the Lebanese land by emptying it of its owners amidst the presence of about two million displaced Syrians and about half a million Palestinian refugees.

In this connection, al-Rahi renewed his call to the international community “to find a solution to the crisis of the displaced Syrians and to ensure their return to Syria in order to preserve its heritage, unity, civilization and role,” in addition to reiterating the “need to implement the right of return of the Palestinians in accordance with international resolutions.”

The Patriarch also reviewed with officials “how to ensure economic support for Lebanon through the development of sustainable development initiatives, which guarantee people’s steadfastness in their land in Lebanon. These initiatives focus on the environmental and cultural field, which was launched with a number of British official bodies since 2003 with the visit of Patriarch Sfeir to London.

Source: National News Agency