Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rahi rejected on Sunday the attempt to create sectarian provocations and use them as a tool in political practices to attract the masses.
"This has served to deepen sectarian and confessional divisions and distorted the concept of the participation of various sects in power," Rahi said.
"Rather than contributing to building a state that preserves its unity and coexistence, and provides security, stability and a decent living for its people, political participation has become a means of sharing influence and gains among politicians, looting public funds, and distributing state capabilities among them in the name of sects...which has led to weakening the state amidst its overwhelming debts," the Patriarch added regretfully.
"Therefore, we cannot tolerate this practice which is contrary to the Constitution and the philosophy of the National Charter," he asserted.
The Patriarch's words came in his homily as he presided over Sunday Mass at Saint Joseph Church for the Jesuit Fathers in Ashrafieh, marking the start of the 145th academic year of St. Joseph University in Beirut and the celebration of the centennial of the State of Greater Lebanon, at the invitation of USJ President Salim Daccache and the University Council.
The Patriarch reiterated Lebanon's foundation values, symbolized in its independence and being free from any subordination, and being the ultimate homeland for all its citizens within its internationally recognized borders; in addition to its unity in diversity and its public religious, cultural and political liberties, coexistence of its citizens as Christians and Muslims with equal rights and duties, and balanced participation in governance and administration.
Rahi stressed, once again, on "Lebanon, the model, and the Arab and international message."
"These values form the philosophy of the Lebanese formula, which is to assimilate the pluralistic societal reality within a unified political entity, in which the sects participate in the exercise of power, with the aim of building a state that achieves justice, security and stability, and provides a decent living for its people," Rahi noted.
"Consequently, citizens' national affiliation strengthens in wake of their conviction that the state is a guarantee for all, without the need for any other guarantee, and thus, national unity is deepened and coexistence becomes a reality," the Patriarch underlined.
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