Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Focusing on youth formation and returning to "proclaim and live the" Good News, with the same spirit of the early Christians: these are Benedict XVI’s recommendations to Lebanese Catholics, in his address to the new Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Raï, received together with the delegation that accompanied him to Rome for the concession of ecclesial communion, following his election by the Maronite Synod.

The Pope, who underscored the presence Card. Nasrallah Sfeir, predecessor of the current patriarch, praising his 25 years of service to the Church "in the midst of the turmoil of history”.  Speaking to the 77th leader of the Maronite Church he said that "since you are in the heart of the Middle East, you have an immense mission", to "propose the Gospel to people who know little about it or who have moved away from the Church. " "With all the vital forces present in Lebanon and the Middle East this means" witnessing and living in communion with the Word of life to rediscover the zeal of the early believers. "

"This region of the world, blessed by the presence and preaching of patriarchs, prophets, apostles and of Christ himself, aspires to the lasting peace that the Word of life, accepted and lived, has the ability to establish".

"You must pursue this goal through the human and spiritual, moral and intellectual education of young people, thanks to your schools and catechism classes, of which I know the quality. I very much hope that your role in their formation is increasingly recognized by society, so that the core values are transmitted, without discrimination, so that today's young people "become responsible men and women within their families and society, to build greater solidarity and fraternity among all components of the nation. "