After several days of violence, a Lebanese archbishop called on sectarian groups to reconcile peacefully and urged the Vatican to help."The Lebanese do not at all want war. We are insisting that the Christian political leaders be wise and avoid participation in this armed conflict," Maronite Catholic Archbishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil has said.
"We are calling on them to do everything to reconcile peacefully the two groups.
"We should do whatever necessary to interrupt this armed conflict. The church, the (Maronite) Patriarchate should take initiatives," said Archbishop Rai.
"The Vatican should intervene in the spirit of the 1997 apostolic exhortation, 'New Hope for Lebanon.' This pontifical document gives directions on the political level and was agreed upon equally by Muslims and Christians," said the archbishop.
"A democratic Lebanon, the success of the Christian and Muslim conviviality and pluralism are the door to peace in the Arab countries and the Middle East."
What started May 7 as a general strike calling for a minimum-wage pay hike escalated into clashes between Sunni Muslim militants loyal to the Western-backed government and Shiite Muslim opposition gunmen. Local news reported that at least 11 people had been killed in three days of fighting; the first two victims were a mother and her son.
As of May 9, Beirut's airport remained closed, its access blocked by mounds of dirt and burning tires erected by supporters of the Hezbollah militia.
In a closed-circuit television press conference the day before, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that street action would continue unless the government stopped the investigation into its telecommunications network and reinstated the airport security chief.
The Cabinet announced the judicial probe and the suspension of the security chief May 6. Government officials believe Hezbollah is using surveillance equipment to monitor the movements of government officials at the airport.
Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, said May 6 he supported the probe into Hezbollah's communications network and noted that the government should have tackled the issue previously.
"There is no (stable) country in the world that has two states and two armies," he said, speaking during a visit to Qatar.
The Lebanese, he said, "are influenced by ideas coming from Syria, Iran and other states." The cardinal said the situation in Lebanon is "tense due to external intervention and the lack of internal dialogue."
Cardinal Sfeir also was expected to visit several other countries, including the United States, and the United Nations in mid-May.
Archbishop Rai said Cardinal Sfeir's scheduled visit to the U.S. and the U.N. "is very badly viewed now by the opposition and its alliances -- Syria, Iran and those aligned with Hezbollah."
"However, the patriarch has all the wisdom to act wisely," he said. "The church, especially during the absence of the patriarch, should be more active and needs the direction for that from the patriarch, while he is pursuing his pastoral journey."
Archbishop Rai pointed out that because the Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, limited the power of the Lebanese presidency, a post reserved for a Maronite Catholic, the Sunnis and Shiites consider the era of political "Maronite-ism" over.
He said the aim of the street conflict is to decide which sect -- Sunni or Shiite -- will control the government.
Lebanon has been without a president since November, when Emile Lahoud's term expired.
Legislators have failed to agree on a successor and the makeup of the new Cabinet.
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