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.”
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