Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai warned against meddling with Lebanon’s fate.
“A free economy is at the heart of the constitution, but the Church wants it with a social dimension that guarantees justice, solidarity, human dignity, and rights,” Rai said during the Sunday mass in Bkerki.
"We need to build our internal unity so that all political parties join forces for the survival of the country…” The patriarch said, adding: “This requires loyalty to Lebanon above all everything else.”
Rai stressed that the current priority should be focused on structural reforms based on the promises made by the previous government at the CEDRE Conference, beginning with addressing the electricity, fighting corruption, improving management, and promoting the independence of the judiciary from all political interference.
He also reminded that the free financial and economic system, of which the banking sector is an essential part, “is one of the pillars of the Lebanese entity founded by the honored patriarch Elias Al-Houwayek a hundred years ago.”
He underlined the government’s duty to address the causes of the financial collapse without delay and punish those manipulating with the national currency.
