«We need to stop the war and start healing the wounds. We are already late.” Monsignor César Essayan, apostolic vicar for Latin rite Catholics in Lebanon talk about the current situation.
«The night was difficult»tells. «I live 10 km north of Beirut. But all the time we heard the planes passing by to bomb Beirut. The number of deaths is increasing (already over 600), schools are closed, we live in fear of what will happen given that Israel has promised to raze the outskirts of Beirut to the ground.”
What do you expect?
«The worst and therefore we live in this. Even now everything is very difficult. There are 800,000. We try to help as much as possible. We had a meeting at the Maronite patriarchal headquarters with Church agencies such as the Don Orione Opera, Aid to the Church in Need, the Pontifical Mission and others and us representatives of the Catholic Churches to join our efforts and also lend a hand to the State to welcome the displaced people in Beirut. We also have a very tender look towards the South of Lebanon and towards those who have decided to remain in their homes. Let’s look for ways to help them too. The basic needs are assured, but there are many problems starting with electricity and fuel for the generators.”
What scares you most?
«We live in uncertainty. We are afraid of seeing the South invaded by Israel and also the Beqā Valley invaded by Syria. There is great confusion and even people no longer know whether to push for Hezbollah to give up its weapons or whether to support it to defend itself from threats. There are those who say that if no one stopped Israel from razing Gaza to the ground, who will be able to stop them if they want to enter Lebanon? We are in a very difficult, embarrassing situation. We don’t know what to think anymore.”
What do you do as a Church?
«We respond to today’s needs, but also with an eye on the months to come. We want to help our young people hope and hold on in this situation because many are trying to leave here. We bring hope, the one that the Pope gave us when he came here three months ago and this hope makes us think that it is always possible to find another way other than weapons and that every life is worth spending for good and for peace. This keeps us going: continue to fight as a Church and as a country to prevent hatred from taking root. It’s difficult because it hurts to pass through the streets of Beirut and you see people sleeping in their cars far from buildings because they know they could be bombed. These are small situations to survive, but they are not solutions.”
Do you feel supported?
“Yes. From the international community, from many friends who send messages, from prayer. We also receive financial aid to be able to buy what the displaced need. We feel a Church present, an international community of people who always hope that this country of ours, Lebanon, can be reborn from its ashes.”
Do you welcome everyone?
«We don’t make distinctions by religion, even if in Beirut we are more careful because we don’t know the Shiite families and therefore we have to evaluate whether someone from Hezbollah or the Iranian Revolutionary Guards can infiltrate. In the South the families all know each other and therefore it is easier to know who they are. We must use this precaution because we have seen that Israel does not care how many deaths there may be. If he wants to attack a Hezbollah member, he will raze buildings and neighborhoods to the ground and therefore the life of an entire population will be at stake.”
The Lebanese president wanted to negotiate with Israel, but so far he has been refused. What do you think?
«There is no other solution other than dialogue. Israel may try to enter southern Lebanon, but this incursion will not bring peace. What he is doing now with the bombings and the threat to raze the outskirts of Beirut only puts hatred in people’s hearts. He is making enemies for himself for the next few years. We must listen to our president who asks to come to a table to stop the weapons. And also what Pope Leo said about disarming yourself and agreeing to speak. No one has ever won a war. Where there have been wars it has only created chaos and hatred. If the weapons are not stopped, a new generation of terrorists will only be created who will also have weapons and artificial intelligence at their disposal. So who can stop them? Whoever harbors hatred today and will not have a solution tomorrow because she is hurt, because she has lived and grown only in daily violence, what can she do in the future? I was 13 years old when the civil war began in Lebanon and I only knew violence. My faith saved me, but what happened to many others? Let’s think about the Palestinian camps, the Syrian refugee camps, people who have only known war. What generation of young people will we have tomorrow? The only solution is to stop and talk. Today it’s already late, we can’t wait any longer.”
