BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai has pleaded with France and the Vatican to help in the election of a new Lebanese president, officials said Tuesday, in the latest attempt by the influential Maronite Church to end the 9-month-old vacuum in the country’s top Christian post.

Rai made the plea during a two-hour meeting with French presidential envoy Jean-Francois Girault in Rome Monday. The meeting was also attended by the Vatican Foreign Minister Monsignor Paul Gallagher, reflecting the Vatican’s concern over the lingering presidential deadlock in Lebanon.