Father Pierre el-Rahi, a Maronite Catholic priest from the village of Qlayaa in southern Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli bombing on Monday, March 9. Four other people were wounded, according to the Œuvre d'Orient.
A first artillery strike was reportedly fired in the afternoon, wounding a couple who owned a house in the parish, according to the newspaper L'Orient Le Jour. Father el-Rahi along with a group of young people ran to help the victims, Vatican News reports, and at that point there was a second strike. Father Pierre el-Rahi was critically wounded, and despite being brought to a hospital, he succumbed to excessive blood loss.
A message made public by the Holy See's Press Office the same day expressed Pope Leo's "profound sorrow for the victims of the bombings these days in the Middle East, for so many innocent [victims], among them many children, and for those who were helping them, like Father Pierre El-Rahi."
A priest of the Diocese of Tyre, he was “deeply rooted, devoted to his community, and always available,” Vincent Gelot, country manager for Œuvre d'Orient, told Aleteia. “We organized a humanitarian convoy with him in 2024, during the war of 2024. Even then, the vast majority of Christians had remained in place. The young people in the villages had prevented Hezbollah from entering their towns.”
According to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need the priest was supported by them in the pastoral activities of Klayaa Parish in the Maronite Diocese of Tyre, which serves around 3,000 parishioners.
ACN reported 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."
Hezbollah's presence in the village at present is still uncertain, explains Gelot. He makes a firm clarification: “Christians have never taken part in this conflict in any way, and once again they’re paying the price with their blood. Here in Qlayaa, they have always done their utmost to prevent the intrusion of armed militias and Hezbollah.”
Since hostilities resumed in the Middle East at the end of February, Lebanon has been plunged into a deep crisis, a collateral victim of the regional confrontation between Israel, Iran, and their allies. The south of the country, bordering Israel, is particularly exposed to bombing, artillery fire, and massive population displacement. The latest figures show nearly 500 deaths and over 500,000 people displaced within the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun lamented on Monday that Lebanon is trapped between an Israeli assault that shows "no respect for the laws of war” and “an armed group operating outside the law in Lebanon which has no regard for the interests of Lebanon and the lives of its people.”
While Israel has called on those in the south to evacuate, already thousands are displaced, and many hesitate to leave family homes to an uncertain future and long lines of those trying to head north.
Threatened with extinction
Qlayaa is one of the Christian villages in the south of the country that refused the Israeli army's evacuation order a few days earlier in the context of the war with Hezbollah. The Maronite priest had publicly announced in front of the village church that the Christians would not leave and would remain there peacefully, without weapons.
Fifteen other Christian villages, such as Alma al-Shaab, Rmeish, and Ein Ebel, are fighting to continue to exist on the land that Christ himself walked upon.
Although these villages currently have enough food supplies, access by road is becoming increasingly difficult due to bombing. With the Lebanese army virtually absent in the south, Christians find themselves alone in the world, fighting for survival.
Caught between Israel and Hezbollah, they refuse to disappear and abandon their land. Because disappearance, Vincent Gelot insists, is what awaits them. “These populations have already been displaced several times in the last fifty years. This time, they know that if they leave, they will never be able to return. There’s a real risk of annexation by the Israeli army. This is unacceptable,” says Vincent Gelot.
He points out that throughout the Middle East, the Christian minority is threatened with extinction. “The international community is not doing enough to protect it. And if this were to happen, it would not only be a loss for the Middle East. The Christians of the East are our roots.”
