In his sermon, yesterday during the Mass of Saint Maroun's Feast at Saint George Maronite Cathedral in downtown Beirut, Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi went further than ever before, especially in terms of exploding the accusation of a premeditated exclusion of Maronites from the state, and his stark rejection of the "duarchy" of the presidency of the Parliament and the government amid presidential vacuum.

"Annahar" newspaper found that the tone of Patriarch Rahi's sermon was entirely exceptional as it included a stance that could be considered the most violent and the most dangerous in its implications regarding Bkerke's view of the persistence of the vacuum and its dealings with the reality of power, the presidency of the Parliament, and all the Muslim partners as a whole.

The newspaper did not rule out that among the implicit reasons that contributed to Rahi's strict position was the government's proceeding with appointing the Chief of Army Staff in a manner considered constitutionally violating, in addition to Rahi's growing frustration from the lack of any significant change in the positions of the forces that obstruct free and constitutional presidential elections, while a war with Israel decided by a known team without considering the existence of the state or other partners opposing this unilateral opinion.

The Patriarch presided over the Mass of Saint Maron's Feast at Saint George Maronite Cathedral in Beirut yesterday, amid a large diplomatic, political, parliamentary, official, and popular attendance.

In his sermon, Rahi said, "Today, we find ourselves facing a programmed process of excluding Maronites from the state, starting from not electing a President of the Republic, closing the Presidential Palace, and returning to practice the rule of duarchy clearly and unacceptably."

He questioned, "What about their exclusion and that of other Christians from ministries and public administrations?"

He said, "All violate the constitution through the 'necessity' pretext adopted by Parliament to legislate unjustly, and the cabinet to make appointments and all that exceeds ordinary business, also unjustly. In the absence of the President, the constitution is violated as we see, and no authority corrects and stops this abnormal reality."

This article was initially published in Arabic in Annahar Newspaper, translated by Christina Rai.