BEIRUT: Pope Francis called for more humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and other host countries Friday, after receiving President Michel Sleiman at the Vatican.
“The enormous number of Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon and its neighboring countries arouses much worry. Greater humanitarian assistance, with the help of the international community, was requested for the host countries as well as for the suffering peoples,” Francis said, according to a statement by the Vatican’s secretariat of state.
Those fleeing war-ravaged Syria included a quarter of a million children, the Vatican statement noted. Sleiman has repeatedly called for the convening of an international conference to help Lebanon cope with the burden of Syrian refugees, and United Nations officials have recently instituted cutbacks in health care provision to refugees in Lebanon, due to funding shortfalls.
Sleiman and the pope also tackled repercussions of a wave of popular uprisings in Arab countries for Christian communities.
The Vatican statement added that “the delicate situation of Christians throughout the Middle East was not overlooked [during the discussion], as well as the meaningful contribution that they can offer in light of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation ... which constitutes an important point of reference for Catholic communities and societies of that region.”
Many Christians in the region have felt threatened by the rise of political Islam after the “Arab Spring,” due to the possibility that hard-line Islamic legal statutes might be introduced into their societies.
Pope Francis and Sleiman also discussed their hopes for “the quick and fruitful resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which is ever more necessary for peace and stability in the region.”
Their discussions also touched upon the internal security situation in Lebanon, according to the statement, with the pontiff emphasizing “the importance of dialogue and collaboration among the members of the various ethnic and religious communities that make up the nation’s society and constitute its richness. Likewise, the common good, development, and the nation’s stability were also considered.”
“In that regard, best wishes were expressed for the formation of a new government that will have to face the important challenges in the national arena as well as in the international sphere,” the statement added.
Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam will next week reach the one-month mark since he was selected by 124 MPs to form a new Cabinet.
While Sleiman was in Vatican City, a report by the UNHCR indicated that the number of registered refugees in Lebanon had exceeded 453,000 while thousands still await registration, raising estimates of the total number of refugees in the country between 600,000 and 700,000.
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam has said authorities expected Lebanon’s official figure of Syrian refugees would jump to 1.2 million by the end of the year.
Last week, EU commission chief in Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst said it would be difficult “for any country to deal with refugees when their numbers become equivalent to nearly one-quarter of its population.”
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04/05/2013
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