Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan urged people to “pray for peace” during a March 11 interview with “EWTN News In Depth” as war continues to engulf several nations in the Middle East, including his home country of Lebanon.
Zaidan, who serves as the Maronite Eparch of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, is also chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace.
“Peace has to start within the heart,” Zaidan said. “If we don’t have peace within our hearts, we can never have peace outside. Starting within ourselves, let God’s presence move us and guide us so that we could really enjoy lasting peace, the peace that is a gift from God in every way.”
The bishop discussed some of the sentiment in his home country, Lebanon, which was drawn into the war on March 2.
Hezbollah, a Shia militant group that receives Iranian support in southern Lebanon, launched rockets into Israel, which prompted Israel Defense Forces to retaliate with attacks in southern Lebanon, including suburbs of Beirut. The Lebanese government has told Hezbollah to stand down.
One Maronite Catholic priest, Father Pierre El Raii, was killed in the Israeli strikes.
Zaidan, who did not personally know the priest but does know the bishop, said he “extended my condolences to his bishop” and said the priest was “attached to his community and to his parish, to his hometown as well.” He noted El Raii “didn’t want to leave” his town.
“From what we know, unfortunately, [the] militia came to the town,” he said. “The town is mainly Maronite. It’s all Christian.”
The bishop said militias had attacked Israel from the town, which led to retaliatory Israeli strikes. He said: “Out of concern for his parishioners, [El Raii] went to see them in their home, and that’s what happened in the unfortunate situation as well.”
Zaidan echoed the calls of Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi for peace in the region and said “the government has a responsibility to protect the people.” He said the Lebanese Catholics “don’t want any militia” in their towns.
“We don’t want any attacks against Israel from Lebanon, so that we won’t get the attacks from Israel on Lebanon as well, so that we need to stop what we call the spiral of violence,” Zaidan said.
Zaidan discusses war in Iran
The long-standing tensions in the Middle East escalated in late February, when the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and, as of March 11, more than 1,200 others.
Zaidan said that Iran seeks to “undermine the Lebanese government and Lebanon as a country and a nation,” noting that “Christians suffered because of that.”
When asked how Catholics in Lebanon felt about the ayatollah’s killing, he said “there was a sense of relief” because of Iran’s interference in Lebanon, but that “maybe we were hoping [for it] to be resolved in a different way, maybe so that we don’t get repercussions.”
“Even the Arab countries are also getting repercussions and consequences as well,” he said, in reference to Iranian attacks on several Gulf nations that host American military bases.
“We hope that situation will be resolved as early as possible because when you see Iranians coming to Lebanon to fight in Lebanon, we don’t want that,” he said. “We didn’t ask for that. We don’t want Lebanon to be used as a ground for violence. It’s not our culture.”
Zaidan also expressed sadness over a strike on an Iranian girls elementary school, which killed more than 160 civilians, saying: “We always consider human life as sacred,” adding: “God gave us that gift, and God only can take it from us.”
He said “none of us likes war” and the Church seeks “peaceful talks and peaceful resolutions” to this conflict. He noted that Pope Leo XIV has called for diplomacy.
“We’ve had enough violence, we’ve had enough of wars,” Zaidan said. “Unfortunately, not everybody heeds and hears and takes it to heart from that perspective.”
