Where secular powers are about to fail, one may look for higher forces, as happened in the Vatican on Thursday.
Pope Francis invited a dozen Christian leaders from Lebanon, praying that the crises will be solved and a new government will take its place. The Pope would like to visit the country, under the condition of a new government being in charge, the visit could even occur this very year or during the beginning of 2022. An optimistic statement, many may think at this point.
After his visit to Iraq in March, this is another step of his effort to strengthen and defend Christianity in the region of its birth and rise. He even called Lebanon a „bulwark“ for the church in the Middle East and declared that a further slip into chaos in the country would further undermine the position of hte religion in this region.
Despite the reasonable statements about the generel situation in the Middle East, in the context of Lebanon, this kind of talk is an ambivalent affair.
A rhetoric, which claims that Christians in the country are a „bulwark“, is certainly strengthening sectarianism, a political practice that defines people by their religious affiliation and adjusts the politics accordingly. It´s just this kind of politics that put so much harm on the Lebanese people and is facing now, evermore since the revolution of 2019, resistance by many people, especially the younger ones.
One has to mention that all the catastrophes and struggle the country is facing today weren´t initiated by a clash between different religions, but by cooperation of the political leaders of all the different confessions, who are working together since the end of the war to exploit state and people.
Simon Dierich 