Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai indirectly criticized March 14 alliance without naming it, accusing it of obstructing the state institutions for political gains, according to a report by National News Agency.
“The church condemns all political activities that that aim at achieving personal gains at the expense of the public interest and aim at obstructing state institutions ” al-Rahi said in his opening statement of a seminar held in Bkirki.
March 14 coalition has called for the resignation of the current cabinet following the October 19 car bombing( that killed Internal Security Forces intelligence chief Wissam Hassan ) for which Syria and the Hezbollah dominated government of PM Nagib Mikati were blamed. The alliance also decided to boycott all government activities, including parliamentary sessions . March 14 wants a new neutral cabinet to be formed in order to supervise the upcoming elections.
Rai has been at odds with the March 14 alliance ever since he was elected as the new patriarch. While March 14 supports the pro-democracy uprising against the Syrian president Bashar al Assad, Rai has been praising the Syrian regime .
Rai, in an interview with Reuters this year described Assad’s Syria as “the closest thing to democracy in the Arab world”.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.