Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks Friday in
the Vatican with Pope Francis I and handed him an official invitation to
visit Lebanon, the National News Agency reported. “The invitation is signed by Lebanon’s Catholic
patriarchs and it follows another official invitation that was handed to
the pope by President Michel Aoun during his latest visit to the
Vatican,” NNA said. Al-Rahi also handed to the pope a detailed report about the situations in the Middle East and Lebanon, the agency added. The patriarch also thanked the pontiff for his visit to
Egypt last weekend, stressing “the importance of this critical period in
the life of the region.” The pope for his part expressed his “solidarity with the
Arab peoples amid the events that are lashing a lot of their
countries,” adding that he is “praying daily and expressing solidarity
with the aggrieved and refugees who are living under the threat of
terrorism and war.”
