Papal journey to Lebanon (September 14-16) : The situation in the country
On December 31, 2011, Lebanon had a population of 4,039,000, and of them 53.18% or 2,148,000 citizens were Catholic. The Lebanese Catholic Church has 24 diocese, 1,126 parishes and 39 pastoral centers, with 53 bishops, 1,543 priests, 390 seminarians and 62 postulants, 2,797 religious and 2 members of secular institutes, 2,301 lay missionaries and 483 catechists. Catholic education, from kindergarten to secondary schools, serves 427,180 pupils and students in 907 institutions, plus 350 other support structures. The Church runs 30 hospitals and 168 dispensaries, 39 retreat houses, 63 orphanages and day-care centers, 22 family and pro-life centers and 28 other specialized social centers.
The Catholic Church in the Middle East is made up of six Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris (each having its own law and its own traditional rite): the Maronite Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Greek Melkite Church, the Syriac-Catholic Church, the Chaldean Church, and the Coptic Church. The Latin Church, which designates the Latin-rite Catholic communities (as opposed to the Eastern Catholic Churches) has a relatively small representation in Lebanon.
Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, has six dioceses. The Maronite diocese (founded 1577) is an archeparchy with 232,000 faithful, headed by Archbishop Paul Youssef Matar. The Melkite diocese, raised to the metropolitan rank in 1883, comprises 200,000 faithful under the authority of Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros. The Armenian diocese (1928), an eparchy depending on the patriarchal Church of Cilicia, numbers 12,000 faithful under the leadership of His Beatitude Nersès Bédros XIX Taamouni. The Chaldean diocese (1957) has 19,000 faithful; their ordinary is Bishop Michel Kassarji. The Syro-Catholics have an eparchy erected in 1817, which is dependent on the patriarchal Church of Antioch, with 14,500 faithful under the leadership of His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan. Finally, the 10,000 Latin Catholics has an apostolic vicariate under the authority of Bishop Paul Dahdah, OCD.
In Lebanon, Islam is divided between Shiites and Sunnis, along with Alawites and Sufi—heterodox groups of Shiite origin—as well as the disciples of the Druze religion, a Muslim offshoot that assimilated Gnostic and esoteric elements. A small Jewish community made up of several thousand members is concentrated in the area of Beirut. The President of the Lebanese Republic is a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister—a Sunni Muslim, and the President of Parliament—a Shiite Muslim. The parity of the two principal religious communities is carried over into the composition of Parliament, where Christians and Muslims serve in equal numbers.
(Sources: apic/imedia/fides/VIS/vatican.va – DICI no. 262 dated October 12, 2012)
You can also read :
Papal journey to Lebanon (September 14-16) : The report
Papal journey to Lebanon (September 14-16) : The Apostolic Exhortation in the spirit of Vatican II
