Pope's trip to Lebanon will strengthen the unity of Church: Father Rèmur

August 11, 2012: Just about a month to go for Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic journey to Lebanon, scheduled for September 14 to 16, the rector of the Beirut seminary Redemptoris Mater, Father Guillaume de Brute Rémur, said that the Pope’s trip to Lebanon will strengthen the unity of the Church. The primary purpose of the Papal visit is the publication and delivery of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation for the Middle East.
In view of the Pope’s pastoral visit, some Lebanese Christian and Muslim leaders have recently met in Sidon to renew an appeal for peace, dialogue and reconciliation in the country and the region.
Father Rémur, rector of the seminary in the Lebanese capital Beirut, told the vatican Radio on Saturday that the prepartions for the Papal visit is underway. When asked about how important is the Pope's visit to strengthen the fellowship and witness of Christians in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, he said that ‘One of the peculiarities of Eastern Christianity is precisely the division between the various rites, not only between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. There is also division among the various rites in the Catholic Church like Melkite, Maronite, Coptic, etc. Although these rites are enormously rich, because of their religious, cultural, and spiritual heritage, which must be protected, there is always the risk of these Christians to forget that they are called to give testimony to the whole world especially in the midst of Middle Eastern revolution, where Islam also arises with some force and a certain radicalism threaten the unity.
The Pope's visit is very important because it is to emphasize the unity of all the Eastern Catholic Churches around the figure of Peter. It is also very important for ecumenism. We know, that this aspect is very important for Pope Benedict XVI, Father Rèmur added.
It 'true that currently the number of Christians in Lebanon do not suffer from a lack of vocations, because the number of vocations in proportion to the number of Christians is quite high, but recently there has been a decline in vocations and also why we hope that the coming the Holy Father returns a new fervor to the young. I think this is one of the reasons why the Holy Father wants to meet young people, and for the same reason the Patriarchs have insisted organize a special meeting for young people on Sept 15, the priest said.