by naharnet.com — Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said in his Christmas message on Tuesday that officials have brought Lebanon to economic and financial collapse and the Lebanese to poverty. “Our tragedies come from the fact that our rulers refuse to transfer power, they would rather allocate it, spend lavishly and accumulate debts. They brought the state to economic and financial collapse and left more than a third of the Lebanese people in poverty,” Rahi lashed out He said the Lebanese people were expecting a Christmas present from politicians in which they agree on forming “a government of experts to put the country on route to economic salvation.” “The people have expressed their suffering in a positive revolution that has not subsided for 70 days. We hope it will always be positive cooperating with the army and security forces,” Rahi said. The Patriarch “blessed” the “revolution” noting that “our people will not accept bad governance prevailing since the 90s with the spread of corruption, squandering (of public funds), aggravation of deficits, rise in public debt poverty and unemployment.” He urged officials to form a government to end the suffering of Lebanese.