Lebanese bishop says political, economic interests work against peace

ROME – Ahead of the one-year anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that sparked a full-blown war in Gaza, and which now threatens to expand into a wider regional conflict, a Lebanese prelate has asked that individual agendas be set aside in order to achieve peace.

Speaking during an Oct. 5 news briefing on the Synod of Bishops on synodality, Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batrun of the Maronites lamented to journalists that amid a surge of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon in recent days, “The world is quiet, it doesn’t say anything.”

“It even gives the green light for this violence because there are too many interests, at the political and economic level, so the world is silent,” Khairallah said, saying these private interests “have nothing to do with our Christian values.”

Values such as human dignity and freedom “don’t count for anything anymore when interests are placed before all else,” he said, but voiced hope in the potential role the pope and Vatican diplomacy can play.

To this end, Khairallah noted that popes have consistently referred to Lebanon as a “message-country” for the region and for the world due to its history of religious co-existence.

Since 1948, he said, the Holy See has supported the application of the United Nations’ resolutions for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, with the establishment of two separate, independent states.

“This resolution has always been rejected up until today by the State of Israel, by Israeli politicians,” Khairallah said, insisting that many Israeli citizens want peace and demonstrate for peace, “but interests have the upper hand.”

“Unfortunately, the Americans and western countries are not supporting us, they do not support the oppressed people, and I think that this is a message from the synod that we are participating in this year: that the people who are oppressed should have the possibility, the right to decide concerning their future and their destiny,” he said.

Khairallah spoke ahead of the one-year anniversary of an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel that left some 1,200 people dead and during which over 250 people were taken hostage, 97 of whom are still unaccounted for.

Israel immediately launched a counteroffensive that has left an estimated 41,000 Palestinians dead, and which has strained an already fragile regional stability.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have boiled over in recent weeks, with Israel launching a ground operation in Lebanon aimed at taking out Hezbollah positions close to the border, and which have been launching periodic attacks since the war in Gaza began.

Pope Francis and Church leaders in the Holy Land have asked that Oct. 7 be observed as a day of prayer and fasting for peace.

Khairallah stressed the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation as a path to peace, recounting his own story of learning to forgive after his parents were killed inside their home when he was just 5 years old.

Afterward, an aunt who was a nun in a Lebanese Maronite monastery took him in, along with his three siblings, teaching the children to “pray for those who killed [their parents] and to seek to forgive throughout your lives.”

“We have carried this in our hearts, us four children, and the Lord has never abandoned us. He has taken us, accompanied us, to live this forgiveness,” he said, saying he was ordained a priest on the anniversary of his parents’ death.

Khairallah recounted how shortly after his ordination, he gave a retreat to young people in Lebanon in which he spoke about the Sacrament of Confession and the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness.

“They did not understand me: they were all armed to wage war against our enemies. After four hours of speaking, I felt that the message was not getting through,” he said, saying he finally shared his personal story with them, and explained that while he feels anger and sadness over what happened, he still forgives the person who killed his parents.

“I have understood why forgiveness is so difficult, but it is not impossible. We are capable of forgiving,” he told the youth, saying, “all those who wage war against us, whom we consider enemies – Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians, of all nationalities – these are not enemies.”

This, he said, is because those who foment war “have no identity, no confession, no religion,” whereas those who strive for peace belong to Jesus Christ, who is the “King of Peace.”

“Despite everything, we as peoples of all cultures of all confessions, want peace; we are capable of building peace,” Khairallah said, urging all parties involved in the conflict to “put aside our politicians, ours and those of the world, the great powers.”

“They make their interests at our expense, but we, as a people, do not want all this; we reject it,” he said, and called for an end to hatred, vengeance and war.

One of the best things the Church can do, also through the current synod, he said, is to become “a messenger of living together, that is, in listening to the other, respecting each other, dialoguing with each other, respecting them, and then freeing ourselves from the fear of the other.”

“We must free ourselves from this fear, because it dwells within us. I think this would be a first step as a great recommendation of this Synod for humanity,” he said.

Others who spoke at the synod press briefing were Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan in the Philippines, who was on the pope’s list of cardinal-designates announced Sunday, as well as Archbishop Launay Saturné of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, and Catherine Clifford, a witness of the synodal process from Canada.

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