The trauma is a result of the huge explosion that caused at least 180 deaths and 6,000 injuries.

Many of Beirut's children are in need of psychological support, according to a delegation from the heart of the recovery effort.

Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in a live link to Beirut watched by hundreds on Wednesday (19th August), Youmna Yammine, part of the Youth of Hope group, said the people of Beirut need psychological, spiritual and emotional assistance.

"Help is also being given for mental health because some people need psychological attention at the moment, especially children."

"Here we can see volunteers and NGOs trying to help the children and the adults who went through a traumatic experience. The help is being done by the people, for the people, through NGOs and the help is being done by volunteers."

Yammine says Lebanon's many recent crises have drained its people.

"We had the depreciation of the currency, this affected the income of the Lebanese people, for what used to be a good income is now basically nothing. Prices are rocketing."

"After that came the pandemic ... lots of people have lost their jobs…On August 4th came the explosion - the cherry on the top."

"Lebanese people are really tired," Yammine says.

"They need psychological support and religious support because it has been a lot to deal with in a very short period of time."

AACN project partner Monsignor Toufic Bou-Hadir says despite all the suffering in Beirut there is a lot of hope.

"The convents and churches opened their doors to receive the displaced people to say to them that in spite of this catastrophe, God is here, God is love, and hope is here," he says.

Bou-Hadir also spoke of the help Beirut has received from all over the world, saying: "God always shows us with this solidarity that the light of hope always shines. Beirut will be reborn."

"Thank you to ACN… and all of the benefactors all over the world. We really appreciate this solidarity, this brotherhood, this friendship which lasts forever."

The National Director of ACN (UK), says ACN's supporters responded to the Beirut explosion with an outpouring of generosity.

"We have been overwhelmed by the initial response by our benefactors from Aid to the Church in Need."

Source

• Aid to the Church in Need
• Independent Catholic News
• Wikipedia
• Image: Mirage News

Many Lebanese citizens are blaming their leaders' incompetence, for the deadly explosion that leveled the city's main port last Tuesday.

The blast sent a shock wave through Lebanon's capital, destroyed entire neighborhoods, killed at least 154 people, injured about 5,000 and pushed at least 250,000 from their homes.

Reports say the explosion was caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which was being stored at the wharf.

Ammonium nitrate — typically used to make fertilizers and explosives — is believed to have been carried on a vessel owned by a Russian businessman, who allegedly abandoned the cargo at the port roughly seven years ago.

In addition to the explosive material, "30 to 40 nylon bags of fireworks" confiscated in 2010 were stored in the same wharf-side hangar.

A former port worker, says the bags were confiscated in 2010 were in the same warehouse as the ammonium nitrate.

Violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces turned central Beirut into a battle zone. Rocks flew, batons were used and clouds of tear gas were fired at protesters.

The protesters are calling for the resignation of the country's political elite.

Word of Saturday's planned protest spread online Friday with calls for demonstrators to gather in Martyrs' Square.

The Square became a central location for uprisings that ousted the country's prime minister last year, although the political system remained intact.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut on Thursday promising aid. He appeared to be sympathetic to protesters calling for a new political order in Lebanon.

However Macron, whose country previously ruled Lebanon as a colonial power, said France would not give "blank checks to a system that no longer has the trust of its people."

He said he would call for "a new political pact" when he met with Lebanon's political leaders later in the day.

Since the end of the country's civil war in 1990, Lebanon has had a sectarian power-sharing government.

The president of the government must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of Parliament must be a Shiite Muslim.

The factions in power — including Iranian-backed Hezbollah — have used the system for appointing friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

The result has led to widespread corruption in the government.

The corruption has extended to the port of Beirut. Bribery is said to be rampant and goods are often hidden from taxes and duties.

The prime minister has vowed to investigate it and hold all those who were behind it accountable.

However, doubts that justice will be done abound Lebanon, which has a long history of civil strife and assassinations whose perpetrators were never prosecuted.

Source

• New York Post
• New York Times
• Image: Time Magazine

The Pope will visit the Lebanese capital from September 14 to 16 to set out his vision for the future of the Eastern Catholic churches of the Middle East.

His visit, under the slogan "I give you my peace", will come 15 years after an historic visit by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

"The excitement is building, particularly among the young people", Father Marwan Tabet, general co-ordinator of the papal visit to Lebanon, told Vatican Radio.

He said the young people — increasingly tempted to leave their homelands, frustrated by decades of tension, war and sometimes persecution — are waiting to hear what the Pope will have to say to them.

"The Church in Lebanon is very diverse in the sense of its belonging to the Catholic Church," said Father Tabet. "Four of the denominations of the Eastern Churches are based in Lebanon: the Maronites, the Melkites, the Syrian Catholic and the Armenian Catholic and these four denominations form a very important presence on the grassroots, political, social and cultural level."

In August, Christians throughout the Middle East will begin a simultaneous prayer marathon in the lead up to the Pope's arrival. From Bkerke to Baghdad, including Gaza's tiny parish of the Holy Family, the same set of prayers will be recited weekly by Maronites, Melkites, Chaldeans, Syrian Catholics and Armenian Catholics, as well as by members of other denominations.

Meanwhile, the situation in the refugee camps on the border with Syria continues to worsen.

"Thousands of refugees are crossing the border trying to escape from the Syrian hell. Most are women and children. The suffering of these people is enormous. Wherever you go you hear cries of despair, hatred, revenge, many feel abandoned by God," Father Simon Faddoul, president of Caritas Lebanon, told AsiaNews.

Sources:

Vatican Radio

AsiaNews

Image: Holy Family Church