Catholic Church in Lebanon
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Catholic Church in Lebanon (Arabic: الكنيسة الكاثوليكية في لبنان) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
There were approximately 1.34 million Catholics in Lebanon in 2020, the majority of whom are not Latin Catholics but instead follow Eastern Catholic rites as part of the Catholic Church - mostly Maronite, but also Melkite as well as Catholic rites non-native to Lebanon like Armenian, Chaldean, and Syriac.
The Maronite Church constitutes the largest Eastern Catholic church represented in both Lebanon, and the Middle East. The "Land of the Cedars", as Lebanon is known, is the only one in the region where Catholics play an active role in national politics. Besides the President of the Republic, which by the Constitution of Lebanon must be a Maronite Catholic, in the Lebanese Parliament there are 43 seats reserved to Catholics out of a total of 128 seats. Catholics are also well represented in the government and in the public life.
Until the 1960s, Catholics were also the major component of the population and represented 43% of all Lebanese. By 2010, they were considered around 36% of the total population, being Maronites 30%, Melkites 5% and non-native to Lebanon Catholic rites like Armenian Catholics 1%.
Recent history
Muslim and Christian communities coexist in the country for centuries. Cohabitation was sanctioned by a National Pact in 1943, which created a democracy based on religious communities.
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