Following a visit to the Vatican devoted to the situation within the Order of Malta, and a private audience granted by Pope Francis, the president of the Lebanese Association of the Knights of Malta, Marwan Sehnaoui, visited last Saturday the Maronite Patriarch Béchara Raï, to whom he communicated the content of his exchanges with the Holy Father.
Mr. Sehnaoui assured the patriarch that he had shared with Pope Francis the suffering of the Lebanese people, in particular after the double explosion which ravaged the port of Beirut and the surrounding areas last August, mentioning the misery faced by a large part of the population, its frustrations and its dejection. At the same time, he underlined the role that the Order of Malta plays in Lebanon as an instrument of peace and coexistence in a country plunged into complex internal conflicts.
Despite the wish of many to see the Holy Father pay a visit to Lebanon, Mr. Sehnaoui assured the Maronite Patriarch that “the Pope is listening to the suffering of the Lebanese people, and keeps himself informed”. “In terms full of benevolence and hope, the Pope affirmed that Lebanon is constantly present in his thoughts and prayers,” Sehnaoui reported.
“The Pope is listening to the suffering of the Lebanese people”, assures the President of the Order of Malta Lebanon
