LEBANON: Syriac Maronite Patriarch Mor Béchara meets with newly-elects, the Armenian Catholic Patriarch and the Sheikh of the Unitarian Druze

BEIRUT – Syriac Maronite Patriarch Mor Béchara Boutros Raï, together with a number of his archbishops, visited the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Ashrafieh, where he met the newly elected Catholicos of Cilicia, Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian. Mor Béchara congratulated Patriarch Minassian on the new responsibilities assigned to him, and the two church hierarchs discussed relations between the two churches.

Mor Béchara and delegation also visited the House of the Unitarian Druze sect, and met there with the newly elected head sheikh al-Aql, Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna. During the meeting, the two sides emphasized the friendship and cooperative relations that bring the two Lebanese denominations together in saving Lebanon. They stressed the need for all heads of sects to unite, to stay away from disputes and disagreements and to limit emigration of the Lebanese people.

Mor Béchara Boutros Raï stressed during both meetings the necessity of continuing to address all politicians to save Lebanon from its ongoing political and economic crises and restore the country to its former era of sectarian diversity and coexistence.