HUNDREDS clapped, cheered and ululated as they welcomed the leader of the worldwide Maronite Catholic Church at Melbourne Airport yesterday. Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is visiting Australia from Lebanon as part of World Youth Day celebrations.
Cardinal Sfeir shook hands with many of the crowd before being whisked away to a lunchtime meeting with former premier Steve Bracks.
He will take a Mass at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney next Sunday in the lead-up to official Youth Day celebrations and will also preside over the inaugural Forum for Maronite Youth.
The Maronite faith was formed in Lebanon in the fifth century as part of the Eastern Catholic Church.
Its liturgies are in Aramaic and its practices differ slightly from the Latin church.
It is believed there are about 70,000 Maronites living in Australia.
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