Lebanon needs health Christian community, ambassador to Vatican says

In Lebanon, even Muslims think the Christian identity in the country “is important,” according to the Middle Eastern’s ambassador to the Vatican.

Ghady El-Khoury, spoke to Vatican Media after meeting with Pope Francis last week, and shortly after the election of Joseph Aoun as president of Lebanon. Aoun is a member of the Catholic Maronite Church, whose members traditionally hold the presidency in the country.

The country hadn’t had a president for two years, and Khoury took office on Jan. 9, a few weeks after a shaky ceasefire was declared between Lebanon and Israel after 14 months of fighting.

“Lebanon has gone through a very difficult period. Since 2019, we have been experiencing a crisis where we had an institutional vacuum which accentuated the crisis, and we did not have the power to remedy the problems,” Koury told the official Vatican body.

“But I have the impression that for three or four years, the election of Joseph Aoun was almost predestined. He was the personality that the Lebanese trusted the most, the one who exuded the most assurance and stability for the people,” he said.

“We must thank international diplomacy somewhere, but above all, among others, the Vatican diplomacy which has worked constantly so that there is not a void for this post which concerns a Christian and which is the most important in the world for the Middle East,” he said.

“Somewhere, there is a conception among Christians in the Middle East which consists of saying ‘if Lebanese Christians are well, everyone is well.’ For Muslims, it is also important to have Christians in Lebanon. Many friends tell me that Lebanon without Christians would lose all its value,” Koury continued.

For years, Lebanon has been largely subjected to the power of Hezbollah, A Muslim Shia militia which has long sought the overthrow of the Israeli state and has controlled many parts of Lebanon, including areas of Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley region.

It supported the Gaza-based Hamas group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people. Israel retaliated with attacks on Lebanon which killed an estimated 4,000 people and greatly weakened Hezbollah’s power by killing leader Hassan Nasrallah and several military commanders.

The Shia group was also weakened by the overthrow of its long supporter in Syria, former president Bashar al-Assad in December. The new leader hopes to see the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, and Lebanon has over 1 million of them. However, there is still political uncertainty in the country, and fears that the new rulers are tied to Islamist groups.

“What is happening in Syria is a great upheaval for this country which has lived for the last five decades under the era of Assad, in one form or another,” Khoury told Vatican Media.

“So somewhere, a new page opens for them. It is up to the Syrian people to decide their future as they wish. We also want a stable and prosperous Syria. A stable Syria can only reflect positively on Lebanon,” said the Lebanese ambassador to the Vatican.

“The advent of a democratic Syria can push the region towards stability, and focus more on social-economic problems than on small wars between neighbors,” he added.

Khoury noted Aoun said in his inaugural speech as president detailed “all these emergencies” occurring in Lebanon.

“Technically, there are several projects to be carried out at the same time. Among the urgent priorities are stability in the South and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, as well as the start of the reconstruction of totally destroyed villages, whether in the south of the country, the southern suburbs of Beirut or in the plain of the Bekaa,” he said.

“At the same time, we have a lot of other economic projects, that of internal security or the strengthening of the army. All these projects are important. We are so far behind that we have to work all at the same time,” he told Vatican Media.

On Jan. 13, Aoun named Nawaf Salam, the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, as Lebanon’s new prime minister.

The new president has also met with international leaders to prolong the ceasefire with Israel, and hopefully bring a lasting peace to Lebanon.