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Maronite Christians

Lebanese Maronite Christian worshippers pray during the Easter Sunday service at the Saint Antoine Church in Beirut on April 5, 2026. (Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP)
April 6, 2026, 3:08 am
Lebanon’s Christians mark Easter by praying for southern villages hit by war
Worshipers in Beirut struggle to raise their voices over roar of Israeli fighter jets, express solidarity with those suffering from war, caught between Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and IDF
By AFP
Father Pierre al-Rai leads mass at a church in the village of Qlayaa, on the southern border with Israel, on December 21, 2023. (AFP)
March 11, 2026, 8:10 am
Pope mourns Lebanese priest reportedly killed by IDF while aiding wounded villagers
Father Pierre al-Rai of Qlayaa vowed days before fatal strike to remain in parish despite Israeli evacuation warning: ‘When we defend our land, we defend it peacefully’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Lebanon's Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Rai, speaks during an interview with AFP at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, north of Beirut, on October 15, 2025. (Joseph EID / AFP)
October 15, 2025, 7:43 pm
Pope Leo will aim to boost internal peace during Lebanon visit, says Maronite leader
Head of influential Christian sect Patriarch Beshara Rai expects pontiff to ask Lebanese to continue their path towards calm after turmoil of war, national strife
By AFP and ToI Staff
Newly-elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun sits at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, January 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
January 9, 2025, 9:05 pm
Lebanon’s Aoun described as ‘dedicated’ army man with ‘national interest at heart’
Widely seen as US, Saudi Arabia’s first choice, the 61-year-old general has forged relations across Lebanon’s sectarian divides but is often criticized by Hezbollah affiliates
By AFP
A member of the Kurdish Internal Security Force known as Asayesh stands guard during a protest against the Turkish military offensive in northeastern Syria, in the town of Qamishli on October 23, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
December 31, 2024, 10:53 pm
As Iran’s network of proxies withers, Israel has an opening to revive its own
Tehran dominated much of the region through loyal armed groups; burned by Lebanon trauma, Israel moved away from that approach, but now leaders talk of alliances with minorities
By Lazar Berman
Lebanese MP Gebran Bassil attends the 12th parliamentary session to elect a new president in the capital Beirut's downtown district on June 14, 2023 amid bitter divisions between the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
December 10, 2024, 3:13 pm
Senior Maronite politician: Hezbollah must focus on Lebanon, not wider region
Gebran Bassil says Iran-backed terror group must accept that it is part of the Lebanese state, and not parallel to it
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai speaks during the funeral mass of Pascale Suleiman, a member of the Lebanese Forces Christian party, in Byblos town, north of Beirut, Lebanon, April 12, 2024 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
September 23, 2024, 4:02 pm
As Hezbollah pummels north, Lebanon’s Christians divided on support for terror group
Since Oct. 8, the head of the Maronite church has denounced attempts to drag Lebanon into war. While he is a lodestar for many, others have pledged allegiance to Hezbollah
By Gianluca Pacchiani
Teenagers hang out outside a computer store in Jish on August 5, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
August 7, 2024, 10:53 am
In Jish, an indigenous Christian minority defiantly stays in Hezbollah’s crosshairs
Instead of fleeing the Galilee, hundreds of Zionist Arameans are digging in as they brace for a major escalation
By Canaan Lidor
Maronite Christians attend a Good Friday procession in Haifa on March 29, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
March 31, 2024, 5:04 pm
Haifa Christians stage solemn Good Friday march in Hezbollah’s crosshairs
The threat of rockets has caused northern worshipers to alter their plans on a holiday weekend that they are nonetheless determined to observe
By Canaan Lidor
A Maronite Christian center in Ma'alot-Tarshiha was vandalized during the festive period, January 11, 2022. (Michel El Khouri)
January 12, 2023, 9:11 pm
Vandalism discovered at Maronite Christian community center in north
Recently revamped building in city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha had religious items smashed, equipment broken over Christmas period; Maronite leader says ‘everything is destroyed’
By Ash Obel
Lebanese president Michel Aoun, left, meets with Lebanese Maronite archbishop Moussa el-Hajj, at the presidential palace, in Baabda east of Beirut, Lebanon, July 22, 2022. (Dalati Nohra via AP)
August 3, 2022, 4:42 pm
Archbishop carrying bags with $460,000 from Israel sparks sectarian brawl in Lebanon
Moussa el-Hajj, a senior member of Maronite Church, stopped at border with money and medicines stuffed in 20 suitcases; Hezbollah accuses him of normalization with Jewish state
By Agencies
A panel at the International Committee of the United Nations Resolutions for Lebanon Conference in Harissa, Lebanon, April 23, 2022. (Courtesy)
April 28, 2022, 5:21 pm
At Lebanon multi-religious conference, calls to repeal ban on contacts with Israelis
Speakers at confab hosted by Maronite Christian sect’s chief cleric push for Lebanese neutrality rather than close alliance with Iran
By ToI Staff
Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces group, right, shakes hands with Sleiman Frangieh of the Marada Party, left, as they stand next to the Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara al-Rai, at the Maronite church in Bkirki, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon, November 14, 2018. (Aldo Ayoub/Lebanese Forces media office via AP)
November 14, 2018, 11:55 pm
Lebanese civil war rivals end decades of hostility sparked by massacre
Leaders of the Lebanese Forces group and the Marada Party – both presidential hopefuls – shake hands, embrace at church-sponsored meeting
By AP
Mary Iskandar, 50, a Lebanese housewife, is overcome by emotion, as she raises a picture of Maronite Naamatallah Kassab Hardini, left, and St. Charbel Makhlouf, Lebanon's first Maronite cleric to be canonized by the Vatican, in 1977, as Pope John Paul II, proclaims Hardini a saint of the Catholic Church at a ceremony at the Vatican on May 16, 2004. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)
November 2, 2017, 1:24 pm
With the PA’s help, Israeli Christians quietly make pilgrimages to Lebanon
Though the countries are still in a state of war, Palestinian travel documents allow worshipers to visit Catholic holy sites across the northern border
By ToI Staff
France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (C) reacts upon being handed a headscarf ahead of her meeting with Lebanon's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, in the capital Beirut on February 21, 2017. (AFP Photo/Anwar Amro)
February 21, 2017, 7:37 pm
In Lebanon, Le Pen refuses to wear headscarf to meet top cleric
Far-right French presidential candidate stirs controversy during Middle East visit; ‘No one presents me with a fait accompli,’ she says
By Guillaume DAUDIN
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