{"id":57419,"date":"2024-12-01T19:44:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=57419"},"modified":"2024-12-01T19:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:44:04","slug":"lebanon-elect-new-president-end-prolonged-political-paralysis-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/12\/01\/lebanon-elect-new-president-end-prolonged-political-paralysis-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon: Elect New President, End Prolonged Political Paralysis -Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Cynthia Abah<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis has called on Lebanese politicians to urgently elect a new president, emphasizing the need to restore effective governance and end the country\u2019s prolonged political paralysis.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the faithful at Saint Peter\u2019s Square after the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pontiff made a heartfelt appeal: \u201cI address an urgent invitation to all Lebanese politicians to elect the president of the republic immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022, following the end of Michel Aoun\u2019s term.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Rival political factions have since failed to agree on a successor, leaving the country in a state of deadlock.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The absence of leadership has exacerbated Lebanon\u2019s economic and social crises, plunging much of its population into poverty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The vacuum in governance has stalled critical reforms necessary to combat hyperinflation, reduce public debt, and rebuild crumbling infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>International donors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have conditioned financial aid on the implementation of these reforms, which remain stalled due to the ongoing political impasse.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis has frequently expressed concern for Lebanon, describing it as a symbol of religious coexistence in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His latest appeal underscores the Vatican\u2019s growing alarm over Lebanon\u2019s instability and its potential impact on the wider region.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The pope\u2019s call aligns with mounting international pressure on Lebanese leaders to set aside political rivalries and prioritize the welfare of their nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Cynthia Abah &nbsp; Pope Francis has called on Lebanese politicians to urgently elect a new president, emphasizing the need to restore effective governance and end the country\u2019s prolonged political paralysis. &nbsp; Addressing the faithful at Saint Peter\u2019s Square after the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pontiff made a heartfelt appeal: \u201cI address an urgent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":57420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57421,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57419\/revisions\/57421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}