The 76th Maronite Patriarch died on May 12, 2019, at the age of 99. Elected Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Maronite church on April 19, 1986, he will remain in office until February 26, 2011, when he presents his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.
The 76th Maronite Patriarch died on May 12, 2019, at the age of 99. Elected Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Maronite church on April 19, 1986, he will remain in office until February 26, 2011, when he presents his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. His mission at the Patriarchate began during the Lebanese war and will suffer from Christian divisions, but he will endorse the Taef agreement that will forever turn the page of the Lebanese civil war that lasted from 1975 until 1990. Patriarch of peace and national reconciliation, in 2000 he visited the Mountain to seal the Druze-Christian reconciliation. Personality with unshakeable positions, he refused to visit Syria considering the power in Damascus little open to the requests of the Lebanese. He has consistently demanded the full independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, blessing Qornet Chehwane meetings in the 2000s.
This man of peace and resistance will be buried in Bkerke on Thursday, May 16, 2019. A day of national mourning will be observed during his funeral.
