Daily Star.com.lb BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai Saturday called on the Lebanese diaspora to cease the chance to gain the Lebanese citizenship so they can preserve their ancestry for future generations.

“You must take the matter of gaining the nationality seriously because it assures you continuity by getting civil rights-which you might not care about, but which your kids benefit from, and you will preserve your ancestry,” state media quoted Rai as saying to a South African-Lebanese community in the city of Johannesburg. “The Lebanese citizenship is important because Lebanon is the only country that preserves the Christian-Muslim coexistence, which separates between religion and state,” Rai added.

Rai's comments come only two weeks after Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil announced the beginning of the implementation of a law for people of Lebanese origin to gain the nationality.

The Lebanese Parliament approved a draft law in November 2015, which allows foreigners of Lebanese origin to get citizenship, a major demand by the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces.

There are millions of Lebanese descendants living across the world, most of whom are Christians living in Latin America. The number of people who can trace their roots back to Lebanon is much higher than the number of those in Lebanon.