Mideast churches' leaders discuss Christian emigration from Lebanon

Published: 2008-03-18

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- An unprecedented wave of Christian emigration from Lebanon is upsetting the country's demographic balance, said participants at a conference of Christian leaders. Approximately 35 percent of Lebanon's total population in 2005 was Christian; that number does not reflect the Christians who emigrated after the war between Hezbollah militants and Israel in the summer of 2006, according to the most recent statistics announced at the mid-March conference. In 1965, Christians represented 55 percent of the population. The "weakness of the Christian presence in Lebanon today is a source of anxiety," said Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church. "Lebanon as a message (of coexistence) is threatened," he warned. "The presidency is vacant, the parliament blocked, downtown is vacant and the Christians are leaving the country," he said.

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