February 22, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI received Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, who attended the meeting along with his wife and kids. The head of state gave the pope a book of Christian prayers written in Arabic around the year 1650.
According to an official statement, they spoke about how Lebanon can serve as a model in order to show that Christians can live in peace with Muslims in a place as chaotic as the Middle East.
In fact, recently the Lebanese government announced it will observe a holiday to honor the Virgin Mary, a figure celebrated by both religious groups, in order to underline peace in the country.
The pope and Hariri called for inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue to find a just solution to end the conflicts tearing apart the Middle East.
EF/MC
CTV/JM
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