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.