Ahead of the Vatican’s day of prayer for Lebanon on July 1, a senior Vatican official has expressed concern that the potential collapse of the country could jeopardize the Christian presence in the Middle East.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s equivalent of a foreign minister, said June 25 that he believes that the Holy See can make a positive contribution to Lebanon’s economic and political crisis.
“The Holy See is deeply concerned about the collapse of the country economically, financially, socially, which would particularly affect the Christian community and the identity of Lebanon,” Gallagher told journalists at a Vatican press conference.
He said that a weakening of the Christian presence due to emigration “risks destroying the internal equilibrium and the reality of Lebanon itself, further putting the Christian presence in the Middle East at risk.”