Bkirki Denies al-Rahi Resignation Report
Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad and the head of Lebanon's Catholic Information Center denied on Monday that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi would resign in the coming weeks.
In remarks to the National News Agency, Ghayyad said: “The issue is out of the question.”
Father Abdo Abu Kasam, the head of the center, made similar remarks to Voice of Lebanon (93.3) radio, saying: “We have heard about the reports and they are not true.”
Their denial came after El-Sharq newspaper said al-Rahi would resign to get the post of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri at the Vatican.
Al-Rahi, himself a Cardinal, would be the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, the daily said.
“It was decided at the Vatican for the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches to be from the Orient so the choice fell on the head of the most important and effective church in the Orient,” said El-Sharq.
But Abu Kasam told VDL (93.3) that the reports about a decision to relieve Sandri of his post were not true.
“We heard about the news when we were in Rome,” he said. “Such reports harm the Vatican.”
Al-Rahi is in Rome along with other Catholic patriarchs for a summit meeting for the leaders of the Eastern churches in communion with Pope Francis.
The meeting took place at the Vatican last week.
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