Hezbollah's and Israel's war crimes and crimes against humanity continue unabated in Lebanon and unfortunately the carnage only seems to bring more wounding and death and destruction. Lebanese Christians are caught in the middle, neither Hezbollah or Israel care about the Christians wounded, killed, and now homeless because they are not Shiite Muslims or Jews. We can only hope and pray the Lebanese-Israeli talks going on in Washington, D.C. will bring a cease-fire and then the end to hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. PLEASE PRAY FOR PEACE. From Vatican News and National Catholic Reporter.....
Last Christian village on Israeli border: 'We want a Lebanon that lives in peace'
The resilience of Rmeich
“We expected this,” Father Elias shared. “Rmeich is the last Christian village before the border with Israel. We are not near the border—we are on the border. We are the only ones - together with two other villages - still holding out in the Bint Jbeil area. Here, everyone immediately understood that a truce in southern Lebanon was unlikely, simply because the Israeli army has already moved past us and because of the scale of its engagement in this campaign.”
Israeli attacks on the morning of April 8 proved that the ceasefire does not extend to Lebanon. Air strikes hit the southern parts of Beirut in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley - areas where Hezbollah is allegedly more prominently present.
Israel has called it the biggest wave of air attacks of this conflict as it hit over 100 of what Israel described as Hezbollah command centers and military sites in 10 minutes.
Celebrating Easter
Despite this, Father Elias explained that his community still managed to celebrate Easter. “We thank the Lord for this because, even though this year we had to forgo the Easter Vigil, we were still able to celebrate Holy Week with wholehearted participation. This is the core of our resistance: faith, trust in the Lord, and surrender to Him. Not giving up—rather, trusting in the Lord. This is what truly makes us a resilient people in the midst of this tide of war and conflict that surrounds us.”
The Church’s closeness and essential needs
This trust is also reflected, Father Elias continued, in the support the community has received. “Since we raised our voices, the Church has never failed to show its closeness. Both in the previous war and in this one, there has been great support.”
He expressed the community's great appreciation for Pope Leo's prayers. “Just this morning, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Paolo Borgia, asked us how we are and what our needs are. These days, I am compiling a list of medicines. There are people with cancer or undergoing serious treatments. Some need very specific or very expensive medicines, which cost a lot or are no longer available. We need these essential goods, and above all, a humanitarian corridor.”
Father Elias explained he is trying to send this list to the Order of Malta, which is working closely with Caritas in the area. “We,” Father Toni Elias concluded, “carry the full burden here in the parishes, and we are also trying to understand how to obtain support. We remain steadfast in our peaceful resistance.”
Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest Fr. Pierre al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, in vestments second from left, takes part in a Palm Sunday procession in Qlayaa, Lebanon, April 2, 2023. al-Rahi was killed in this village in southern Lebanon during an Israeli artillery tank fire on a house March 9, 2026, Catholic officials and media said — reports since confirmed by OSV News. al-Rahi had earlier refused, along with other priests, to obey an order by the Israeli military to evacuate the Christian village of Qlayaa, a Maronite village of some 8,000 inhabitants in the Marjayoun district, a few miles from the Israeli border. (OSV News/Reuters/Aziz Taher)
Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest killed by Israeli tank fire in southern Lebanon
OSV News
Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest has been killed in southern Lebanon when an Israeli artillery tank fired on a house March 9, Catholic officials and media said reports that have since been confirmed by OSV News.
Fr. Pierre al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, had earlier refused, along with other priests, to obey an order by the Israeli military to evacuate the Christian village of Qlayaa, a Maronite village of some 8,000 inhabitants in the Marjayoun district, a few miles from the Israeli border.
Pope Leo XIV expressed "profound sorrow for all the victims of the bombings in the Middle East over the last few days — for the many innocent people, including many children, and for those who were providing them with aid, such as Fr. Pierre El-Rahi, a Maronite priest killed this afternoon in Qlayaa," the Vatican's Telegram channel said.
The message posted by Holy See Press on Telegram said Leo "is following the situation with concern and prays that all hostilities will cease as soon as possible."
The Israeli military has carried out an intensive campaign bombing on suspected Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley to root out the Iran-backed militia and their weapons. Hezbollah militants have been known to hide in Christian and other villages in the south. Some news reports stated that armed militants had entered the area.
"We are forced to stay despite the danger, when we defend our land, and we do so peacefully. None of us carries weapons. All of us carry peace and goodness and love," al-Rahi told the France24 television channel on the steps of his church in Qlayaa March 8, a day before his death.
But tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians have already fled their homes fearing further violence in the Marjayoun district.
"Fr. Pierre al-Rahi was from my village, Dibeh, but he was the parish priest of Qlayaa in Marjayoun. Unfortunately, he passed away. God bless his soul," Lebanese Maronite Fr. Jean Younes, secretary general of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon, told OSV News.
"Very disturbing reports that a parish priest in southern Lebanon has been killed in an Israeli strike," Aid to the Church in Need Ireland said in a statement on X, adding al-Rahi "was ministering to his distressed parishioners in the village" when the attack occurred.
ACN International called for prayers for the killed priest.
Lebanese news reports stated that an Israeli Merkava tank hit a house in Qlayaa twice. The first strike wounded the owner and his wife. al-Rahi and other neighbors rushed to the scene to help when the tank fired a second time. al-Rahi was wounded from the strike and later died from his injuries. Several other Lebanese civilians were also injured in the attack.
The French-language Lebanese daily L'Orient-Le Jour — which used the French version of the priests' name — reported the cleric died from wounds sustained from a shell, while four other people were injured.
The French charity L'Oeuvre d'Orient, which supports Eastern Christians, issued a statement saying it "learned with horror and immense sadness" of the death of the Maronite priest.
"L'Oeuvre d'Orient condemns in the strongest possible terms these acts of war, which aim to destabilize all of Lebanon and kill innocent civilians. The death of a priest who refused to leave his parish is yet another escalation of senseless violence. L'Oeuvre d'Orient also denounces the risk of annexation and the disappearance of villages south of the Litani River, particularly historic Christian villages," it said.
ACN said that al-Rahi was known "for his commitment to local communities and for his pastoral service in a region particularly marked by instability and tension."
The organization added in a March 9 press release shared with OSV News that "Despite the growing insecurity in southern Lebanon, many priests and religious sisters have chosen to remain with their communities. Many Christian families have also stayed in their villages, unwilling to abandon their homes, land and livelihoods."
AsiaNews, an official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, also reported the death of Sami Ghafari, 70, a Maronite Catholic killed by an Israeli drone while he was in his garden. He was a brother of Fr. Maroun Ghafari, parish priest of Our Lady's Church in Alma Shaab.
Ghafari had also refused to evacuate and chose to defend the Christian village's neutrality in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
"They say there were fighters in the house, but that's not true. These are lies," Qlayaa's Mayor Hanna Daher told AsiaNews. "Inside, there were only the residents of the house and people from the village who came to help the wounded."
The mayor said villagers in the area do not want to leave, despite the growing tension, to join the hundreds of thousands displaced Lebanese fleeing to Beirut and having difficulty finding safe shelter there.
"We are peaceful people and we don't harm anyone. Our village is safe. All we ask is to be able to stay in our homes in peace," Daher said. "We don't know if there's a plan to force us to leave our lands, but we will stay here and not leave."
He added that with Israeli forces hitting the same facility twice, as villagers were evacuating after the first shell exploded, they "narrowly avoided a massacre because there were so many of us on site."
The security situation in southern Lebanon has deteriorated significantly once again after Hezbollah's decision to join Iran in the war against Israel and the United States. Israeli bombings in the area have intensified in recent days, and residents there say civilian homes are increasingly targeted.
The leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces political party, Samir Geagea, called on the Lebanese army to protect the country's towns and villages.
"Elements of Hezbollah infiltrated the town, prompting Israeli strikes that resulted in destruction and devastation, as well as the death of the parish priest" said Geagea, as reported by L'Orient-Le Jour.
Geagea emphasized that "residents have repeatedly asked the Lebanese army not to allow illegal armed elements to enter their villages. Yet, to date, the army has failed in this mission, and the tragedy in Qlayaa today is the most blatant proof of this."
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