Lebanon’s Top Leaders Attend Mar Maron Feast in Beirut as Patriarch Calls for Sovereignty and Reform

BEIRUT — On Monday, Syriac Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai presided over the pontifical Mass marking the Feast of Mar Maron at the Syriac Maronite Cathedral of St. George in central Beirut. The event took place in the presence of Lebanon’s three top state leaders and a broad assembly of Eastern Christian patriarchs. While religious in form, the occasion carried clear national and political significance.

In attendance were President Joseph Aoun, a Syriac Maronite, and First Lady Nehmat Aoun; Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri; and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his wife, alongside senior political figures and members of the diplomatic corps. For a few hours, the gathering projected an image of institutional unity in a country more accustomed to division than consensus.

The celebration came at a moment of acute national strain as Lebanon continues to grapple with economic collapse alongside mounting security and political tensions. Against this backdrop, the feast of the patron saint of the Syriac Maronite Church took on added symbolic resonance, offering space for prayer as well as a subtle political message about statehood, sovereignty, and coexistence.

In his homily, Patriarch al-Rai called for the exclusive control of weapons by the state, the implementation of the ceasefire, and adherence to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. He urged Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the extension of state authority across all Lebanese territory, and the empowerment of the Lebanese Armed Forces to fully carry out their duties. He also pressed for serious reconstruction efforts and long-delayed reforms, describing them as essential to restoring both domestic and international confidence.

Lebanon, he said, is called to remain “a land of encounter and a message of freedom,” stressing that genuine faith does not compromise on values or coexist with injustice, but is rooted in sacrifice as a path to life — a formulation carrying moral as well as political undertones.

The Mass was attended by several Eastern Catholic patriarchs, including Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of the Syriac Catholic Church, Patriarch Youssef Absi of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian of the Armenian Catholic Church, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, Archbishop Paolo Borgia, and a large gathering of bishops, priests, monks, and nuns.

In his opening remarks, Syriac Maronite Archbishop Paul Abdel Sater welcomed those present, saying the gathering reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to Beirut as a city of dialogue and culture, and as the capital of a single, undivided homeland.

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