Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al Rahi, the Maronite Patriarch, presided at Sunday service. “Lebanese legitimacy must recover its free, clear, and proper choice, as well as the unity of its military authority, and withdraw from the game of destructive axes and protect its constitutional institutions,” he said in his sermon.

“The suspension of the cabinet sessions is unacceptable, especially given that any deal with the IMF requires the consent of the whole Council… It is illegal to keep the government frozen for reasons that have become evident,” Al Rahi stressed.

“If certain Lebanese forces intend to link the nature of Lebanon to regional decisions and their external loyalties, then they depart from consensus and strike Lebanon’s unity to the core, and the crime is to destroy and distort it.” “Violent attacks on the property of others in a number of Lebanese regions without any official and judicial deterrent, as well as buying and selling suspicious properties,” Rahi explained.