Orthodox archbishop appeals to the conscience of Lebanon”s leaders

 

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoude appealed to Lebanon”s feuding leaders to return to ideals of moral conscience, stressing that there was no excuse to refrain from performing official responsibilities. “Has it become impossible for us to go back to the institutions and practice democracy and elect a president for the republic to rein in control and shoulder responsibility?” he asked during his Christmas sermon on Tuesday.

 

“Have the men in our country who demand the rights of the country and the people become rare?” he added.

 

“What is the role of the MPs if they don”t look after the rights of those who elected them?” Aoude asked.

 

He said that Lebanon suffered from a political vacuum on all levels, “the presidency is vacant, the Cabinet is thought of as illegitimate and the Parliament is paralyzed … We don”t know how the country is functioning.”
 

“Go back to your conscience. Let your conscience be your guide, otherwise history will have no mercy on you,” Aoude urged politicians.

 

The archbishop”s comments came after the Hizbullah-led opposition rejected as unconstitutional a government bill amending the Constitution to facilitate the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces General Michel Suleiman as president.

 

The opposition has also threatened to boycott Saturday”s Parliament session to elect a new head of state unless the ruling coalition agrees on the shape of the future government ahead of the vote.