Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Lebanon yesterday to urge peace at a time of great turmoil in the Middle East, saying the import of weapons to Syria during the country’s civil war was a “grave sin.”
The three-day visit comes at a time of turmoil in the region — the civil war in neighboring Syria and in the aftermath of a mob attack that killed several Americans in Libya, including the US ambassador.
The pontiff was welcomed by top leaders, including the Lebanese president, prime minister and parliament speaker as well as Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Cannons fired a 21-shot salute for the pope.
Photo: Reuters
The pope told reporters on the plane that imports of weapons to Syria is a “grave sin.”
Syria’s rebels have appealed for weapons shipments to help them fight the regime.
The visit brings the pope to the nation with the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East — nearly 40 percent of Lebanon’s 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. Lebanon is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.
Lebanese authorities are enacting stringent security measures, suspending weapons permits except for politicians’ bodyguards and confining the visit to central Lebanon and the northern Christian areas.
Army and police patrols were stationed along the airport road, which was decorated with Lebanese and Vatican flags as well as posters of the pope and “welcome” signs in different languages.
Benedict told reporters on the plane that he was not afraid to visit Lebanon.
He also described the Arab Spring that has already removed four long-serving dictators as “positive.”
“It is the desire for more democracy, for more freedom, for more cooperation and for a renewed Arab identity,” the pope said.
He warned against the risk that the push for more freedom could end intolerance for other religions.
The pope said he never considered canceling the trip for security reasons, adding that “no one ever advised [me] to renounce this trip and personally, I have never considered this.” The pope denounced religious fundamentalism calling it “a falsification of religion.”
Benedict, the third pope to visit Lebanon after Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 1997, will be addressing concerns by the region’s bishops over the plight of Christians in the Middle East. War, political instability and economic hardships have driven thousands from their traditional communities, dating to early Christianity in the Holy Land, Iraq and elsewhere.
“Let me assure you that I pray especially for the many people who suffer in this region,” he said upon arrival.
The papal visit comes amid fears that Syria’s conflict might spill over to Lebanon.
Clashes in Lebanon between Syrian groups over the past months have claimed the lives of more than two dozen people and left scores wounded.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS