Lebanese patriarch tells Cheney Israeli response not proportionate

Published: 2006-07-18

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Lebanon's Maronite Catholic patriarch said he told U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney that Israel has a right to defend itself, but its reaction to Hezbollah actions is not proportionate. "The country is nearly destroyed, the runways, bridges, ports are all destroyed," Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir told Catholic News Service July 18 after his meeting with Cheney. The cardinal said "the Lebanese government is so weak, it is not able to oppose (its offenders). It has no means to." Cardinal Sfeir met with Cheney at the White House before celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Washington. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington were among those concelebrating the Mass for peace in the Middle East. Cardinal Sfeir was to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that evening before flying to Cyprus, where he hoped the U.N. would help him return to his homeland.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .