This is the first church in the Muslim Gulf state which opened only in March.
Sfeir who left on a private jet intends to travel from Qatar to South Africa on an eight day visit on Tuesday
From there he intends to travel to the United States to discuss Lebanon's presidential vacuum.
On his way back to Lebanon he plans to make a stop in Spain where he is due to meet King Juan Carlos
Sfeir is expected to make a stop in New York on May 15 to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Moon is expected to honor the cardinal on his birthday. May 15 happens to be the 88 th birthday of Patriarch Sfeir.
Sfeir is also expected to meet with President George W. Bush at the White House on May 22 . He is also expected to meet several US officials
Sfeir told reporters that he hoped the United States could contribute to efforts to ease the political crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since November 23 amid wrangling between feuding leaders.
"The American officials know about the situation in Lebanon. If they can contribute to promoting the security that we want in our country, their efforts will be welcome", the cardinal said.
Lebanon's ruling alliance and the Hezbollah-led opposition which is supported by Iran and Syria, are deadlocked over power-sharing in a new national unity government and the electoral law that should be applied in 2009 parliamentary elections . This crisis has prevented the election of a president for the Lebanese republic.
Commenting on the presidential elections prior to departure he said: "According to the constitution 2/3 quorum of the parliament is needed for the first round of the presidential . The second round could be based on half plus one majority." He cautioned the ruling majority against reverting to half plus one majority on first round, saying "such an action is against the constitution and could force the opposition to elect their own president. This will result in two presidents for Lebanon which is very bad "
Sfeir encouraged dialogue but said "unfortunately dialogue so far has not resulted so far in any tangible results in Lebanon"
Sfeir called for a smaller electoral district in which 3 or maximum four members of the parliament will be elected. He said this is what all civilized democratic countries do , so that the constituents and the MPs get to know each other.
Sfeir repeated his opposition to the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon saying " Lebanon is too small to absorb such a large number of Palestinians. It is already too small for the Lebanese themselves and that is why so many are emigrating " He added "besides we have a document that says the Palestinians themselves do not want to remain in Lebanon"
Tags: Lebanon, Qatar, Sfeir, source: NNA, source: Ya Libnan, South Africa, Spain, US
