Poland’s Catholic Church to hold day of solidarity with Lebanon

Warsaw, Poland, Nov 12, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Poland will hold a “day of solidarity” with Lebanon on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Warsaw, on Nov. 10, Bishop Artur Miziński urged Catholics to support the initiative through their prayers and donations.

“Lebanon needs our solidarity today that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the secretary general of the Polish bishops’ conference said.

The World Bank has described Lebanon’s financial situation as among the “most severe crisis episodes globally since the mid-19th century.”

It estimates that the Middle Eastern country’s real GDP contracted by more than 20% in 2020, with surging inflation, high unemployment, and power cuts.

“Let us try to think of our brothers and sisters who remained in Lebanon, but who would not experience peace and life worthy of human conditions,” said Miziński, an auxiliary bishop of Lublin, southeastern Poland.

“Therefore, we want to help them, we want to help them rebuild damaged houses, so that there are no children left on the streets, so the children can attend schools. So that with the passage of time, the normalization of living conditions worthy of a human being will be commonplace.”

Also speaking at the press conference was the Lebanese Archbishop Georges Bacouni, who said that the country’s almost seven million-strong population was facing a critical situation following the devastating port explosion in the capital, Beirut, on Aug. 4, 2020.

Poland’s Catholics have celebrated a Day of Solidarity with the Persecuted Church annually on the second Sunday in November since the Polish bishops’ conference established the event in 2008.

This year’s day, organized by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need and falling on Nov. 14, has the theme “Solidarity with Lebanon,” a country with a sizeable Catholic minority.

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdańsk, northern Poland, said that Catholics could help the Lebanese people through donations, prayers, and by informing themselves about the country’s plight.

“In a special way, we, as Christians, are obliged to constantly provide help to those who need it,” said Wojda, the chairman of the Polish section of Aid to the Church in Need.