After at least one explosion occurred at the ports of Beirut on Tuesday, August 4, a Maronite Catholic cardinal has said the local Church needs support to help the people of Lebanon recover from this disaster.

“Beirut is a devastated city. A catastrophe struck there because of the mysterious explosion which occurred in its port,” Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, said August 5.

“The Church, which has set up a relief network throughout Lebanese territory, today finds itself faced with a new great duty which it is unable to assume on its own,” the statement of the patriarch continued.
He said after the Beirut explosion, the Church stands “in solidarity with the afflicted, the families of the victims, the wounded, and the displaced that it is ready to welcome in its institutions.”

Cardinal Rai described the city as looking like “a war scene without war.”
“Destruction and desolation is in all its streets, neighborhoods, and houses.”
He urged the international community to come to the aid of Lebanon, which was already in an economic crisis.

“I am addressing you because I know how much you want Lebanon to regain its historic role in the service of man, democracy, and peace in the Middle East and in the world,” Rai said.

He asked for countries and for the United Nations to send aid to Beirut, and called on charities around the world to help Lebanese families “heal their wounds and restore their homes.”

Christian leaders have asked for prayers after the explosion, and many Catholics have turned to the intercession of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a priest and hermit who lived from 1828 to 1898. He is known in Lebanon for his miraculous healings of those who visit his tomb to seek his intercession – both Christians and Muslims.
The Maronite Foundation in the World posted a photo of the saint to their Facebook page Aug. 5 with the caption “God have mercy on your people. Saint Charbel pray for us.”