The MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs

From the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council in Beirut: 

“It is necessary to work on Islamic-Christian cohesion and preserving civil peace and national cohesion and everything that leads to social cohesion in order to avoid strife” 

In a meeting of love and fraternity, the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Dr. Michel Abs, at the head of an MECC delegation, visited the Vice-President of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council His Eminence Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, on Tuesday 23 July 2024, at the headquarters of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council in Beirut. The meeting was held in the presence of Dr. Mohammad Rizk, Director General of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council and Special Secretary of the Council, and Dr. Ghazi Kanso, Advisor to His Eminence Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, and Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the Islamic University in Lebanon. 

Following the meeting, Dr. Abs made a statement in which he said, “It was a visit of affection and love to the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council and a meeting with the Vice President His Eminence Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, in which we discussed matters related to the region and civil peace, as well as the aspirations of the people of Lebnaon, the Middle East, and the Levant, and all what these people suffer from such as persecution, wars, calamities, and disasters which comes from abroad." 

He added, "We stressed the necessity of Islamic-Christian cohesion and the necessity of preserving civil peace and national cohesion and everything that leads to social cohesion in order to avoid strife so that those fishing in the troubled waters of this country do not interfere. We agreed on the various points that we discussed, and affirmed that our homeland, Lebanon, is part of the Arab world and deserves to be defended, as well as its future, entity, economy, its land, and people, forever and ever.” 

Dr. Abs concluded, “We also agreed to hold successive meetings with the elites belonging to this noble sect and this great and generous Lebanese group called the Shiites, and we are very pleased with our friendship with many of them and we are honored by that.”