Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis and Lebanese president Michel Sleiman met to discuss the Syrian fighting and the influx of refugees it has sent into his country. According to Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican press office director, the meeting focused on “the regional situation, with special reference to the Syrian conflict.” “The Pope is concerned with the large number of Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon and neighboring countries,” he said.

Pope Francis called Friday for greater humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and surrounding countries, after meeting with President Michel Suleiman at the Vatican.

"The huge number of Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon and the neighboring countries gives rise to particular concern," the Vatican said following the talks.

"Greater humanitarian aid is called for, for the refugees and the suffering population, with the support of the international community," it said.

The United Nations in mid-April said that Lebanon was housing 400,000 Syrians who have fled the conflict now in its third year which has killed more than 70,000 people.

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  BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman condemned Friday recent Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, calling them a continuation of the Jewish state’s “policy of intimidation” and a bid to destabilize the country. Israel has intensified the rate of its overflights in Lebanese airspace over the past several days, a development security sources attribute to the monitoring […]

    Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized the delay in the formation of a new government, reported the National News Agency Wednesday.He stressed the need to form a new cabinet because the “delay cannot persist longer than this.”  He made his remarks upon his arrival in Sao Paolo, Brazil as part of his ongoing tour […]

  Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam held talks on Wednesday with President Michel Suleiman to brief him on the latest discussions concerning the formation of the cabinet. Salam left the Baabda Palace without making any statement as media reports said that the meeting last half an hour.   Media reports said earlier on Wednesday that a meeting […]

  SIDON, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army apprehended Wednesday an Israeli man who crossed into Lebanon through the southern border, security sources told The Daily Star. The man, 34, jumped over the border fence along the internationally recognized Israeli-Lebanese border south of Naqoura where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is stationed, they added.   The […]

Washington D.C., Apr 29, 2013 / 12:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a plea for the release of two kidnapped Orthodox archbishops in Syria.

“The kidnapping of two men of peace is a sign of the terrible violence that is destroying the fabric of Syrian society,” Cardinal Dolan said in an April 26 statement.

He explained that the plight of the archbishops, along with the murder of their driver, “continue to weigh heavily on the hearts of people of good will.”

On April 22, Archbishop John Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Archbishop Paul Yagizi of the Greek Orthodox Church were kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria by armed men who appear to have killed their driver.

It remains unclear who carried out the kidnapping. The Syrian government and rebel groups have both traded accusations over who is to blame.

LoS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard has been previously attacked for backing the Church’s teachings on homosexuality and expressing his concern for those who live the homosexual lifestyle. Four women, representing the pro-abortion and homosexual group FEMEN, took to the stage at ULB University in Brussels where the archbishop was participating in a debate on blasphemy laws. The women disrobed to reveal black-painted slogans on their bare chests and backs, such as "my body my rules. "Waving signs that read "stop homophobia," the women doused the archbishop with water from bottles formed in the image of the Virgin Mary.

In the minutes before the women could be forced off stage, Archbishop Leonard sat drenched with water, eyes closed in prayer. The archbishop then kissed the image of the Virgin Mary on one of the water bottles that was used in the attack.  "He was very calm and maintained a position of prayer. I have to believe he was praying for us," one of the attackers said to reporters.  The attack was spurred by an interview three weeks ago where Archbishop Leonard said that when speaking to Christians who are inclined to homosexuality he suggests celibacy, as is required for all single persons.

BEIRUT: Maronite Cardinal Beshara Rai called Saturday for the release of two Syrian bishops who were abducted earlier this week.  “I urge those concerned to release kidnapped bishops Boulos Yaziji and Yuhanna Ibrahim,” Rai said during a speech he made at a church in Argentine leg of his Latin American tour. Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox […]