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\u201cLebanon is more than a country,\u201d said Pope Francis, echoing the words of St. John Paul II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lebanon is considered the last foothold of the Christian community in the Middle East. About a third of the population identifies as Christian and the country\u2019s president must be a Maronite Catholic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLebanon is a message of liberty, an example of pluralism for the Middle East and the rest of the world. We cannot allow this patrimony to be lost,\u201d he said. \u201cLebanon cannot be abandoned in its solitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon after the blast, the Holy See\u2019s Congregation for Eastern Churches charged CNEWA and the Paris-based l\u2019Oeuvre d\u2019Orient with coordinating worldwide Catholic aid to the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While CNEWA\u2019s partner focused on Lebanon\u2019s Catholic schools, CNEWA has concentrated its efforts on rehabilitating the two damaged Catholic hospitals, the Geitawi and Rosary Sisters\u2019 facilities, as well as two dispensaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNEWA has also been responsible for repairing damaged religious houses served by sisters working in 13 educational and social service centers in Beirut; restoring more than 100 apartments and some two dozen shops owned by vulnerable or at-risk families; providing counseling services for 1,100 people impacted by the blast; and emergency food packages for more than 15,200 families. \u201cThis perfect storm of multiple disasters hitting Lebanon now has devastated the country\u2019s middle class, to which most Christians in the country belong,\u201d said Michel Constantin, CNEWA-Pontifical Mission\u2019s regional director for Lebanon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving lost most of their savings, their livelihoods and their purchasing power, and now joining the ranks of the poor, the danger of their flight from their homeland is real,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prayers, messages of support and the thousands of generous responses to CNEWA\u2019s appeals have helped bolster the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have not yet lost hope,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GeitawiHospital_After-1-967x1024.jpeg\")
Thousands of generous benefactors throughout North America and donor agencies in Europe have responded to CNEWA\u2019s appeals, providing more than $4.8 million in funds to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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