Pope Benedict XVI on September 15 urged Middle Eastern Christians and Muslims to forge a harmonious, pluralistic society in which the dignity of each person is respected and the right to worship in peace is guaranteed. Speaking to political and religious leaders on the second day of a three-day trip to Lebanon, he stressed that people must repudiate vengeance, acknowledge their own faults and offer forgiveness to each other.
The frail-looking 85-year-old pontiff, walking with the aid of a cane, first met President Michel Sleiman, a Maronite Christian. Then, before talks with the Muslim leadership, he met Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, a Sunni, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite. Lebanon has an unwritten but rigorously followed tradition that the three top jobs are always reserved for members of those respective faith communities. Lebanon is a multi-faith country in which Muslims make up about 65 percent of the population and Christians the balance. Those who desire to live in peace must have a change of heart, Benedict said, and that involves “rejecting revenge, acknowledging one’s faults, accepting apologies without demanding them and, not least, forgiveness.”