Pope Benedict XVI pleads for "Autonomous" Lebanon

(24 Nov. 2006) : "We are all harshly stricken by an unspeakable act" and ask "the Lord to receive in the dwelling of his Kingdom he who committed himself in public life to the service of his country and his Lebanese brothers," said Pope Benedict XVI’s in a message read during the funeral of slain Lebanese Christian minister Pierre Gemayel held on Thursday.

The Holy Father's words resounded during the funeral, presided over by Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, in St. Georges Cathedral. The papal message affirmed: "I hope that all the Lebanese will be particularly sympathetic to one another in these circumstances and that they will commit themselves in a renewed manner to the building of an autonomous and ever more fraternal Lebanon, assuring the active participation of all its members in the national society."

Thirty-four-year-old Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon’s industry minister, was assassinated Tuesday, November 21 in Beirut. More than 500,000 people were in the streets of Beirut for the funeral of the slain politician. A human tide of six kilometres lined up the road that took the assassinated minister to his home town of Bikfaya where he was laid to rest.