Lebanon: ecumenical and interfaith expectations

The country Pope Benedict is encountering during his three day visit to Lebanon is a complex patchwork of some 18 different Christian and Muslim communities, still bearing the scars of the country's decade and a half long civil war.
For a look at the way the Pope’s message of peace and reconciliation may affect the religious tensions present in Lebanon today, Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen talked with Syrian Evangelical pastor Rev Dr Riad Jarjour, former General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, who now heads the Arab group for Muslim-Christian dialogue….

Listen:

Dr Jarjour explains that the Evangelical community includes Presbyterian, Congregational, Anglican, Baptist and Church of God faithful who are located all over Lebanon under the umbrella of the Evangelical Supreme Council of Syria and Lebanon.....

He says relations between the Protestant and Catholic communites have become very good since the Catholic Church jointed the Middle East Council of Churches in the 1990's...

He notes that the political situation is unstable and very tense and that there are divisions within the Catholic family between those who support the March 14th (opposition group) and those who support the March 8th (political block currently in power). These divisions, he says, have an effect on relations between the Christian denominations and have affected Lebanon from the 1975 war up until now...

Asked about hopes ahead of the papal visit, Dr Jarjour says the new Maronite Patriarch has already launched initiatives to bring Christian politicians together, but there is no doubt that Pope Benedict's visit will make a great impact if he can persuade the Christian leadership to think less about their own interests and more about what is good for Christians in Lebanon and throughout the region....