Al-Rahi to Visit Vatican Soon after His Calls for Neutrality

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will soon visit the Vatican, in the first foreign trip following his landmark calls for Lebanon’s neutrality, MTV said.

He will visit the United States after the U.S. presidential elections, the TV network added.

Al-Rahi has repeatedly called for neutrality in his recent statements, describing it as the only way out of Lebanon’s compounded crises.

On Thursday, he openly criticized Hizbullah and linked the country’s unprecedented economic and financial crisis to its “hegemony” over the government and Lebanese politics.

“Today we are saying that for the good of all Lebanese without exception, there is no salvation for Lebanon except through declaring the system of effective, positive and committed neutrality. This would pull us out of the hegemony of any Lebanese component and of political and military conflicts,” al-Rahi added, in an interview with the Vatican News portal.

Asked about the mechanism to achieve Lebanon’s neutrality, the patriarch said one or two permanent U.N. Security Council member states can present a suggestion to the U.N. Secretary General to create “a system of positive and effective neutrality” in Lebanon.

“The Secretary-General would then put the issue to a vote… and we are counting on the effective role of the Holy See regarding this issue,” al-Rahi went on to say.