Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al Rahi, the Maronite Patriarch, presided over one of the memorial services at the Maronite Patriarchal Pontifical Institute in Rome, in the presence of political, diplomatic, and religious players, as well as community members.

After the Holy Gospel, Patriarch Al Rahi delivered a sermon, in which he said: “Our Maronite liturgy remembers on this Sunday, and during this week, our dead believers in the Lord, and during this week we pray for all the dead and our dead in particular, and remember with you in a special way, especially the mother of Archbishop Rafik Al Warsha, our brother in the episcopate, the patriarchal delegate to the Holy See and the head of the Maronite Patriarchal Pontifical Institute in Rome.

“The word of God calls us on this blessed Sunday to unite faith with love, and by that we mean translating love and faith to serve the needy,” he added.

“I allow myself to make an appeal from here, from Rome to the officials in Lebanon, in the light of today’s Gospel, the Gospel of faith and love. We cannot continue in Lebanon the way we are walking. You who are entrusted with the capabilities of the country, public money, ports and utilities, relations with states, and the national value that exists for the service of our people, cannot continue to squander and disrupt it, and with the collapse of the country and the displacement of the Lebanese people from their land. You cannot continue to despise the demolition of the country and the impoverishment of the people despite all the calls from the whole world, as if it remains for them to accept their hands to do their duty, with His Holiness Pope Francis at their head, who does not leave an opportunity except to make an appeal to them. I am with you from Rome, I renew my appeal to them and pray for them, especially for those responsible who fear God,” Al Rahi concluded.