Lebanon’s lack of a president could stir religious conflicts in the Middle East and affect Christians’ role in the country, said a Lebanese bishop.

Maronite Bishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil said that “the danger of the vacuum of the presidency is that it would lead to an absence of the Christian role in Lebanon, so that the actual conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis will continue as a consequence of the war in Iraq.”

“In fact, this conflict aims to determine who will rule the policy in Lebanon. All this will threaten the security of Lebanon and stir up the confessional conflicts in the Middle East,” said Bishop Rai.

“The second danger, if the vacuum persists,” said the bishop, “is it will empty the presidency of its value and active role in the Lebanese political system and again marginalize the role of the Christians in general and especially Maronite Catholics.”

Lebanon’s parliament failed to elect a successor to President Emile Lahoud before he stepped down at midnight Nov. 23, just hours after he announced the transfer of security responsibilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Lebanon’s Constitution says the president must be a Maronite Catholic, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim.

If Nov. 26-28 international peace talks in Annapolis, Md., lead to a positive agreement, “Lebanon will be the first to benefit from its fruits,” the bishop said. That is because “it is well known that the political crisis in Lebanon is a consequence of the conflicts in the Middle East around the following axes: Israel and Palestine; Israel and the Arab countries; the U.S., Syria and Iran; the U.S. and Iraq; the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq; and the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement,” he said.

The parliament’s voting session to elect a president has been postponed for the fourth time. It is set for Nov. 30 and could be delayed further if Lebanon’s political leaders cannot agree on a candidate.

Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, Maronite patriarch, and the Maronite bishops repeatedly have admonished Lebanon’s political leaders for their allegiance to regional and foreign powers and their failure to look out for the interests of the Lebanese people.

Such allegiance is the cause of the current conflict in Lebanon, Bishop Rai said. The ruling majority of Lebanon’s parliament is Sunni-led, supported by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the U.S.; the opposition is Shiite-led, supported by Syria, Iran and their Western allies.

“For this reason, the decision to elect a president of Lebanon is in the hands of Saudi Arabia-U.S. and Syria-Iran,” the bishop said.

Bishop Rai suggested that the Maronite patriarch “should gather all the Christians — especially the Maronite [political] leaders — around Lebanon’s destiny and institutions, and pull them out of this international and regional conflict. And, instead of being dependants of this or that group, Lebanon’s Christians should form an intermediary group drawing the supporters and the opposition — or the Sunnis and Shiites — toward Lebanon’s interest, which should be the common interest of all.”

The bishop also called for a review of the Taif Accord, the agreement signed in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 1989 that ended Lebanon’s civil war. He said the agreement has shown that the authority of the (Lebanese) presidency is “completely restricted by the speaker of the parliament and the prime minister themselves.”

Bishop Rai noted that “the presidency has become the weakest institution in the country and is not able to take any action when the parliament is deadlocked and the government is in crisis. Consequently, the constitutional crisis becomes a confessional crisis, as is happening today.”

Cardinal Sfeir was not able to attend the Nov. 24 celebrations of the Church’s new cardinals at the Vatican due to the political crisis in Lebanon. In his homily Nov. 25 at Bkerke, the headquarters of the Maronite Catholic Church, he urged politicians to agree on a new head of state in order to avoid chaos.

“We are now in an interim period that may lead us to stability or to chaos and confrontation,” Cardinal Sfeir said.

“Therefore, everybody — especially those responsible for brokering an agreement — is asked to show seriousness and honest patriotism,” he said.