NNA - Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rahi stressed that "war and weapons only generate destruction, killing innocent victims, displacing a safe people, creating wounded and disabled people, destroying achievements, impoverishing citizens, sowing terror in the hearts of children, widening the area of hunger, and destroying the harvest of life."

"With what authority do warlords who command it from their thrones while they are safe from its scourge?", Patriarch Rahi asked.

Rahi, whose fresh words In a sermon on Sunday in Bkerke, Al-Ra’i indicated that “we pray that the war stops, as a mercy to the innocent, an end to destruction, killing and displacement, and a cooling of anger and hatred, and for the two sides to sit down to resolve the conflict between them peacefully.”

The Patriarch denounced what is happening in Ukraine, stressing that “the concept of neutrality, especially in the human dimension that we are defending, is not devoid of heart, feeling and conscience, and does not conflict with human rights or the right of peoples to self-determination, and does not contradict international laws.”

Commenting on the issue of the parliamentary elections, he called for holding the parliamentary elections on time, so that people have their say and speak the word of truth and good choice, and so that the people do not miss the opportunity for change, adding that the political class should not not circumvent this constitutional right under any pretext.

=========================  R.K.