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| Beshara Boutros Rai |
Beshara Boutros Rai is the Maronite
Patriarch of Antioch. He is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
and was mentioned as a possible Arab papal candidate in February of
2013 after Benedict XVI retired from the position. Within the past
few years he has gained notoriety for being a supporter of the Assad
regime in Syria.
It was announced recently that he will
meet with Pope Francis when he visits Jerusalem later this month.
This has caused the patriarch to be severely criticized in the Muslim
Arab press. The Arab language daily As-Safir, a newspaper with ties
to Hezbollah, ran an article with the headline “Historic Sin: Rai goes to Israel”. No previous patriarch of Antioch has visited
Israel since it became a state in 1948. Lebanon remains technically
in a state of war with Israel.
It is the position of the Maronite
church and Rai that the Jewish government of Israel is a government
of occupation. Rai is taking a personal and professional risk by
choosing to visit the pope in Israel. He has tried to smooth things
over by saying that he will not meet or shake the hands of Israeli
officials, but he will have to deal with Israeli officials in order
to gain entry into the country. Rai says that the visit is strictly
religious in nature and has no political significance. But the Arab
press has already begun the process of politicizing the trip, whether
there is a basis for it or not.
One wonders what can be so important
about meeting the pope in Israel that Patriarch Rai would subject
himself to such criticism and risk. His immediate predecessor
Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir turned down a similar opportunity
when John Paul II visited the holy land. With the present regional
hostility toward Christians, this visit is also likely to raise the
visibility and persecution of Christians in Lebanon and Syria.
The article attached below is from Al-Akhbar. Al Akhbar is a Lebanese news source with ties to the terrorist organization, Hezbollah.
Rai defies his predecessors, decides to join papal delegation to Israel
In almost every controversial matter,
Maronite Patriarch Mar Beshara al-Rai plays a starring role. After a
series of contradictory positions and his visit to Syria in February
2013, he decided to take a step that his predecessors refrained from,
visiting occupied Palestine as part of a papal delegation.
During the civil war, the Maronite
patriarch opposed the relationship between right-wing militias and
Israel. There are a number of Maronite religious orders in the Holy
Land and a Maronite diocese headed by Bishop Boulos Sayyah, who for
16 years used the Naqoura crossing to travel between Lebanon and
occupied Palestine. Sayyah’s visits took place with the knowledge
and permission of the Lebanese state. But no head of a Lebanese
church has stepped foot on these lands before because they did not
want such a step to be perceived as recognition of or normalization
with the Zionist entity.
The visit by Maronite Patriarch Mar
Beshara al-Rai to Jerusalem in May can not go unnoticed, especially
since no Lebanese patriarch has done so before. Why does Rai then,
unlike his predecessor, insist on traveling to occupied Palestine as
part of the papal visit?
Former Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah
Boutros Sfeir recalls in his memoir, as reported by journalist
Antoine Saad, that he refused to accompany Pope John Paul II on his
journey to the Holy Land because “there is a domestic situation
that we must take into account. We have bishops that travel between
Lebanon and Palestine, but taking into consideration the domestic
situation, we preferred not to do it.”
Saad tells Al-Akhbar: “There is no
enmity in the dogmatic sense, but Sfeir was always against the
Israeli policy regarding the Palestinian cause and its actions in
Lebanon.” He adds: “The position of the Maronite patriarchate was
always clear in its hostility towards Israel and its belief that this
entity has played a role that has caused us many
calamities.” It is from this perspective that “Sfeir raised many
questions during the civil war about the relationship between the
Christian militias and Israel, which led to disagreements and
tensions between him and the Lebanese Forces.”
However, one can not compare the two
patriarchs according to Saad, they had different issues to take into
consideration. “We should not forget that Israel had not withdrawn
its army [from Lebanon] when Sfeir refused to participate in the
Vatican’s delegation.” That is why, “I don’t consider the
visit [by Rai] a normalization of relations. There are issues beyond
politics and conflicts, namely Rai’s sense of attachment to the
Holy Land,” Saad concludes.
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