Catholic World News News Feature

Church leaders demand sovereignty for Lebanon March 02, 2005

Lebanon must regain its sovereignty and "full independence," the Vatican's "foreign minister" has said.

In an interview broadcast on Italian television, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo said that Lebanon should return to the status that it enjoyed for generations, as a country in the Middle East where different ethnic and religious groups lived together "in an exemplary and peaceful fashion."

Opposition parties in Lebanon, protesting the dominance of Syria over the current government, have staged a series of protests in Beirut, in defiance of government bans on demonstrations. Since the death of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in a terrorist bombing on February 14, angry public protests have multiplied, leading to the resignation of the government.

Demonstrators blame Syria for the death of Hariri, a popular leader who was an outspoken critic of Syrian influence in the current regime. Syria's President Bachar el Assad recently told the American weekly Time magazine that his government would soon withdraw the 15,000 troops stationed inside Lebanon, although he did not provide a timetable for that withdrawal.

The Maronite Catholic bishops of Lebanon, who represent the country's largest Christian community, have pointed out that the political crisis now threatens to lead to economic disaster. The bishops urged the country's parliament quickly to establish an interim government to guide the country, while providing for national elections in the spring. Maronite leaders also underlined their support for an end to the Syrian military presence in Lebanon. Bishop Paul Youssel Matar of Beirut observed: "Lebanon has the right to take her responsibilities in her own hands."