The Lebanese Kataeb Party issued a strong response to a message sent by Hezbollah to Pope Leo XIV ahead of his historic visit to Lebanon, emphasizing the group’s role in undermining democracy and human rights in the country.

“The threat to coexistence exists only in Hezbollah’s attempts to portray matters as targeting a specific sect. Moreover, the presence of weapons under the banner of ‘Islamic resistance’ in Lebanon, along with the intent to maintain a military and security infrastructure, prevents the establishment of a democratic state, violates Lebanese citizens’ human rights, and suppresses freedoms,” the party said in a statement released Sunday, just before the Pope’s arrival in Beirut.

The statement went on to criticize Hezbollah’s broader influence in Lebanon, accusing the group of profiting from illegal activities and consolidating power at the expense of the state. “The oppressor today is the one who has caused Lebanon’s destruction, and the corrupt is the one who has profited from all illegal activities in the name of a cause, violated honor under the guise of dignity, assassinated the free in the name of liberty, undermined the system, constitution, and law under the pretext of legitimate self-defense, and forcibly seized the will of the people as if granted exclusive authority over war and peace,” it said.

The party also condemned Hezbollah’s handling of Lebanon’s maritime borders, charging that the group “has sacrificed Lebanon’s maritime borders in an agreement with Israel in a political and legal masquerade under the pretext of protecting economic rights, and sought American mediation while begging Saudi Arabia under the guise of prudence and overt cunning.”

Concluding its statement, the Kataeb Party called for a forward-looking approach.

“What protects Lebanon is a vision for the future, not the repetition of past mistakes. In our response, we extend an invitation to dialogue and a historic stance that can defuse the threat of war and strengthen the state in its essential role: the protection of the people and the land,” the statement said.

The response comes in the wake of an open letter from Hezbollah to Pope Leo XIV, in which the group welcomed the pontiff’s visit and urged him to reject what it described as Israeli “injustice and aggression” against Lebanon. The letter called on the Pope to “take a stance rejecting the injustice and aggression that our country is subjected to at the hands of the Zionist invaders and their backers.”