By Elise Harris Vatican City, Dec 9, 2014 / 01:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rather than being called by his papal name “Benedict XVI,” the retired pontiff revealed that since his retirement he has wanted to return to his original priestly title and be called simply “Father Benedict.” Father Benedict made his comments in a private conversation with journalist Jorg Bremer, who published bits of them in a Dec. 7 article for German newspaper F.A.Z. According to the journalist, Benedict explained that when he initially stepped down he wanted to be called “Father Benedict” rather than Pope Emeritus or Benedict XVI, but “I was too weak at that point to enforce it.”

At least part of the reason for wanting his new title to simply be “Father” rather than Pope Emeritus or Benedict XVI is to put more space between him and the role of the pope, so that there is no confusion as to who the “true Pope” is, Bremer reported. The retired pontiff encouraged the journalist to write about his desire, saying “Yes, do that; that would help.” In their conversation Benedict also spoke of his current relationship with Pope Francis, saying that “we maintain good contact (with each other).” “Francis has a strong presence. Much stronger that I could ever have with my physical and mental weaknesses,” he observed. “To remain in my office would not have been honest.”

  BEIRUT: MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced Tuesday the formation of a Coordination Committee for Mayors to follow up on the budget money that municipalities have not received since 1994. After a meeting in the Free Patriotic Movement’s headquarters in Rabieh, Kanaan, who is also the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, announced […]

  BEIRUT: The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy arrived in Lebanon Tuesday for a two-day visit. Sources at Rafik Hariri International Airport told The Daily Star that Federica Mogherini, accompanied by an EU delegation, arrived in Lebanon at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, coming from Turkey aboard a private jet. (Link)

  The series of meetings held by the director of the department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-François Girault, with Lebanese officials since his arrival indirectly backed the election of MP Robert Ghanem as Lebanon’s president, reported al-Akhbar daily. On Tuesday, Girault continued his meetings with Lebanese politicians. […]

  BEIRUT: France is ready to help Lebanese political parties agree on a president if it was asked to do so, a high-ranking French foreign policy official said Tuesday after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam in Beirut. “The Lebanese must make a final decision and choose a president for their state without foreign intervention,” Jean-François […]

  Lebanon needs more international help to fight jihadist forces that have launched a series of attacks against the army and kidnapped troops and policemen, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said in an interview with Agence France-Presse. Salam, speaking ahead of a visit to France this week, welcomed French arms deliveries due "in the coming weeks," […]

  BAALBEK, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army has imposed a siege on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, where militants are holding 25 servicemen hostage, by blocking most roads leading to the area, security and local sources said. Troops have also been pounding the outskirts with heavy artillery. The security measures comes three days […]

By: Andrew Neather

“With everything that’s going on, it’s always at the back of our minds: what if we couldn’t produce wine any more?” says George Sara of Château Ksara, up the road in Zahle.

Relatives of Lebanese soldiers, who were captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, sit near a vehicle with a banner of soldier Ali al-Bazzal, during a protest demanding the release of soldiers and pressuring the government to act, as families block the North entrance of downtown Beirut December 6, 2014. Syria’s al Qaeda offshoot Nusra said on Friday it killed captive Lebanese soldier al-Bazzal in retaliation for the arrest by Lebanese authorities of women identified as wives of Islamist militants. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Relatives of Lebanese soldiers, who were captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, protest demanding the release of the remaining soldiers and pressuring the government to act, as families block a road in Saifi village in Beirut December 6, 2014. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists

Families of Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped by Islamic militants, block a main road during a protest after an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria says it has killed a kidnapped soldier Ali Bazzal, seen in poster with his daughter, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The Nusra Front group said it shot dead Ali Bazzal, one of the Lebanese soldiers that was kidnapped by the group on Friday night in retaliation for the Lebanese government’s detention of the wives and children of militants. The Nusra Front and the Islamic State group have been holding more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen since August. They have so far killed four of them. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Residents burn tyres as they block Qalamoun international highway in Tripoli December 6, 2014. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. One leading Sunni militant, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free the soldiers, after his wife was detained by authorities. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Afnan Al-Hassan, 16, the sister of Lebanese soldier Khaled al-Hassan, who was kidnapped by Islamic militants, weeps as she sits in the middle of a main road during a protest after an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria said it has killed a kidnapped Lebanese soldier, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The Nusra Front group said it shot dead Ali Bazzal one of the Lebanese soldier that was kidnapped by the group on Friday night in retaliation for the Lebanese government’s detention of the wives and children of militants. The Nusra Front and the Islamic State group have been holding more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen since August. They have so far killed four of them.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Mother of Lebanese soldier Lameh Muzahim, who was kidnapped by militants, pray in front of his photo placed on a protest tent in front the government palace in down town Beirut, Lebanon, 06 December 2014. Media reports state al-Nusra Front announced on 05 December it had shot dead detained Lebanese soldier Ali Bazzal to avenge the arrest of two women, one of whom was identified as the divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The purported killing of al-Bazzal has sparked anger among families of some 27 soldiers and policemen taken hostage by al-Nusra and Islamic State since August. (Protestas, Líbano) EFE/EPA/NABIL MOUNZER

A Lebanese journalist speaks on his phone in front a big poster, center, showing one of the Lebanese soldiers, who was kidnapped by Islamic militants, carrying his daughter, which is set by his family over a tent that they set up for an open sit-in in front of the government palace, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, late Friday, Dec. 5, 2014.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them.

More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. One leading Sunni militant, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free the soldiers, after his wife was detained by authorities.

The threat, delivered in a video distributed on jihadist websites, was published on Friday hours before the group said it had killed one of the Lebanese soldiers it holds.

Lebanese authorities earlier this week said they had detained a wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The wife of Shishani has also been arrested.

Officials say Shishani is a fighter in the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official Syrian wing. But in the video he praises Baghdadi, whose Islamic State splintered off from al Qaeda. Islamic State and Nusra have both clashed and worked closely with each other at different times.

(Reuters) – Lebanese gunmen opened fire on and burned Syrian refugee tents in north Lebanon, wounding two refugees, security sources said on Sunday, two days after a Lebanese soldier was killed by Syrian militants to countrywide outrage.

Lebanon has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world, with one in four residents a refugee, many of them living in the poorest areas.

Resentment against Syrian refugees has grown amid accusations that the displaced population is hiding militants in tented settlements to stage attacks on the Lebanese army.

The security sources said that the gunmen had not been identified but that they were young men from the northern Lebanese town of Mashha in Akkar province, where the attack took place.