Lebanese President to visit Vatican next week
March 17, 2022, 3:41 pm

Lebanese President to visit Vatican next week

Michel Aoun-Lebanese President/Official Facebook page

The Arab News reported, Lebanese President Michel Aoun will visit the Vatican and meet with Pope Francis next week.

Aoun’s visit, planned for March 21, follows a visit by a papal delegation, not including the pope, to Lebanon in early February. Aoun previously visited the Vatican in March 2017.

Next week’s visit was announced by Farid Elias Khazen, Lebanese ambassador to the Holy See.

He said that “the attention of the Holy See, like that of the whole world, is currently focused on the war in Ukraine,” but the Vatican remains engaged with Lebanese affairs “at all levels.”

Lebanon will conduct parliamentary elections in May. More than 1,000 people have applied to run as candidates.

Pope Francis-Catholic church head (File photo: Pixabay)

The country has a complex political system that guarantees high-profile positions to people depending on their sect.

The president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, and the Parliament speaker must be a Shiite Muslim.

Lebanon approves plan to reform electricity sector amid economic crisis

The sectarian system is a result of Lebanon’s long history of inter-religious tensions, which erupted into a civil war in the 1980s.

Source: arabnews

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.