«We have always found a way to be together, to live together and we will continue to do so, despite everything». Monsignor César Essayan, 63 years old, apostolic vicar of Beirut for the Catholics of the Latin rite, has just said Mass in the church of St. Francis of Assisi, in the Hamra neighborhood, with a Sunni majority. «I congratulated the Orthodox brothers and sisters who celebrated Easter a week after us. We celebrated together. Upon my arrival I was welcomed by the 1,200 refugees we host in our parish premises. They welcomed me, reassuring me that they will take care of the facility. For us these are normal relationships. We have many mixed families and we are used to a beautiful coexistence, where we accept differences.” For the bishop, in this very delicate and constantly evolving situation, «there is a red line not to be crossed, and it is that of civil peace. This is why the Government is working to make Beirut a completely gun-free zone. We have already been through a civil war and we don’t want to fall back into it.” Of the protests in the streets to sabotage the negotiations “we don’t know what to think even if the majority of Lebanese want dialogue”, he says thinking of the historic meeting, the last one was in 1983, strongly desired by President Aoun in Washington between the Lebanese ambassador to the USA, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, the Israeli ambassador, Yechiel Leiter, and the American ambassador in Beirut, Michel Issa.
«We are under great pressure», he continues, «at a attempt to separate us due to religious affiliations, for interests that are foreign to Lebanon. But if Israel or Iran want to be two superpowers, if the United States wants to regulate the world in their own way, they must know that we continue to carry on our daily lives in sharing. We will see what the position of Hezbollah will be, but also that of the Amal party. Meanwhile, the president is maintaining contacts with Syria, Israel and the USA. It is a very delicate moment, but we do not want to give in to hatred and violence.” He also wrote it in his Easter message: «In the center of Beirut, under the tent, there is a woman who is breastfeeding her baby. In our reception center two other women gave birth to two beautiful little ones. And then they can massacre, they can kill, but our tombs will always be empty because we are children of life and resurrection. They can call the operation “perennial darkness”, but we reply that there is only God who is eternal.”
An attempt at a normal life, while, after the first round of negotiations in Pakistan between the USA and Iran failed, Israel continued to bomb. «In the Christian village of Debel, in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army destroyed the homes of the Lebanese soldiers and the gendarmes who were responsible for security. A clear signal that they want to settle more and more in the area. At the same time, however, President Aoun intends to continue peace negotiations. We are waiting, in a difficult situation. And in the meantime many innocent people, they call them “collateral damage”, are killed. Among them are many children.”
The bishop speaks of the “ten minutes of madness on Wednesday last week in which over 350 people lost their lives”. Among them also a little scout, Jawad Ali Ahmad. It is not the same one whose photo, with the image of Khamenei pinned to his chest and an uncontainable joy at the arrival of Pope Leo, went around the world last December, but a peer with the same name and the same uniform. «The importance of these scouts», explains Monsignor Essayan, «is that they are from Shiite families and, during the Pope’s visit, they represented the entire segment of Shiites, and are the majority, who are for peace». Monsignor Essayan goes back to those days, when «Pope Leo met the religious leaders and the Shiite leader told him that they did not want war, that they love peace and that they put the future of Lebanon and the Lebanese cause in his hands. After these speeches we were quite confident that Hezbollah would not drag Lebanon into a new war. And instead it gave Israel the pretext to enter our country. I want to remind you that Hezbollah represents less than 30 percent of Shiites and even fewer supporters of Iran’s cause in Lebanon. The great silent majority just wants to recover our country and make it something worthy of us. This majority is represented by that child and all the others, of every religion, who welcomed Pope Leo. We all recognize ourselves in his speeches. And everyone, Christians and Muslims, let’s go to pray to Our Lady of Lebanon, in Harissa, let’s go to the tomb of Father Charbel, the first Lebanese saint. This is the real Lebanon and we must resist the temptation to be drawn into fundamentalist discourse. We must continue to be that “message country” as John Paul II defined us, which is a mosaic of coexistence, cultures,
