...Argentine liberation theologist, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was elected pope in 2013. Rather than setting up shop in Avignon, where he belongs, the first Jesuit Pope chose to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse instead of the papal apartments. He is big on climate change, against consumerism, and in favor of throwing a blanket over homosexual activity within the clergy. He's not real sure about the Resurrection, about Christ's divinity, and a few other things that would have gotten him burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, but he's hot for a certain South American Earth Mother Goddess...
met Thursday with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
and urged all of Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...'s politicians to "urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation," the Vatican said.
Francis also reaffirmed during the 30-minute audience his desire to visit Lebanon as soon as conditions permit, according to a statement from the Vatican front man.
Hariri’s visit to the Vatican comes as Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history following decades of widespread corruption.
Since late 2019, the local currency has lost 90% of its value, and more than half of the country's population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.
Hariri has been touring the Middle East and Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
to win support for his efforts to form a government.
And to avoid being assassinated
Among the countries he recently visited were La Belle France,
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He was also meeting Thursday with Italian officials.
Hariri has not been able to form a Cabinet six months after he was chosen for the prime minister's post amid deep disagreements between him and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
, The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
One of the main points of difference includes Aoun’s rejection of Hariri’s plan to choose some Christian members of the new government.
The Vatican said that during the meeting with Hariri, Francis expressed his solidarity with the Lebanese people who are "living in great difficulty and uncertainty, and recalled the responsibility of all political forces to urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation."
Francis is hoping that Lebanon can once again embody "the fortress of the cedars, the diversity that from weakness becomes strength in the great reconciled people," the statement said.
The Vatican didn't list the meeting on Francis' official agenda given that Hariri isn't yet in office; it was described by the Vatican as a private audience, not an official state visit that carries with it specific protocol.