(OSV News): Christians in Debel, Lebanon, are celebrating the gift of a new statue of the crucified Jesus after a recent act of desecration by two Israeli soldiers drew global outrage [Sunday Examiner, April 26].
“The townspeople of Debel are so very happy and appreciative to have their statue of Jesus Christ once again present among us,” Lebanese Father Fadi Felefli, theparish priest at St. George Church, said by phone.
“Yesterday [April 22], Lebanon’s papal nuncio, Archbishop Paolo Borgia came to Debel for the installation of the statue in our town,” he said. The village is one of the few Christian villages in the south of the country where residents have remained during Israel’s war with the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah militia—part of the broader Iran war.
The Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] removed two soldiers from combat duty and placed them in military detention for 30 days after they destroyed the town’s crucifix. The social media picture of an Israeli soldier taking the blunt side of an axe to a fallen sculpture of the cruxified Jesus drew worldwide condemnation on April 20 and apologies from Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other officials.
Father Felefli said that the new statue, which resembled the one that had been destroyed, came with the assistance of Italian troops serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon [UNIFIL] which includes soldiers from 48 nations serving in southern Lebanon.
The townspeople of Debel are so very happy and appreciative to have their statue of Jesus Christ once again present among us
Father Fadi Felefli
A video posted on Facebook showed blue-helmeted UNIFIL soldiers from Italy carrying the statue wrapped in a white cloth which they tenderly removed as one soldier could be seen planting a kiss on the head of Jesus on the crucifix. It was then taken inside the town’s church where it was displayed before the congregation and later erected outside by the townspeople.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, thanked the Italian soldiers, saying: “I thank Commander Diodato Abagnara and the entire Italian contingent of UNIFIL for their decision to donate a new crucifix to the Lebanese village of Debel.”
Meloni said, “The images of the statue’s delivery to the community and its placement, in the same spot where the statue was destroyed a few days earlier by an IDF soldier, fill my heart and convey a powerful message of hope, dialogue, and peace.”
One Lebanese women, Alice Hajj, posted on Facebook: “Hallelujah … JESUS will never leave us, we are a people who believe in him and live in him every moment in our lives.”
One unnamed townsperson said, “We believe that God, in his divine power, has put Debel on the world map to protect it, to hear its voice, and to remind the world that faith is never defeated, no matter how dark it gets.”
We have faced many obstacles, but we are steadfast because we have placed our trust in God
Father Felefli
The person said, “He who destroyed the cross did not realize its meaning. … After the cross comes the resurrection. What some thought is weakness has become our strength. The cross was and will remain our protector, our hope and the sign of our salvation.”
Father Felefli said in a video posted on the site: “Recently our suffering has increased greatly. It has deeply wounded our homes and broken hearts,” recounting the deaths of a Maronite Catholic Father Pierre al-Rahi, and others in southern Lebanon as a result of the war between Israel and Hezbollah that started on March 2. Numerous houses and businesses have been destroyed.
“We have faced many obstacles, but we are steadfast because we have placed our trust in God,” the priest said.
Father Felefli said that the Israeli Defense Forces made a gift of a different crucifix to the town “which is now inside the church.”
On April 23, Michel Constantin, the Lebanese regional director for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association [CNEWA]-Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria, said, “Only the papal nuncio to Lebanon was allowed by the Israeli military to travel to Debel because he is a foreigner.”
Constantin said, “The area of southern Lebanon is under Israeli occupation, where its military is searching the area and occupying some of the houses.”
The CNEWA-Pontifical Mission has been at the forefront of providing humanitarian aid to Lebanese in the south and Beirut.
Israel has continued to attack towns and villages in southern Lebanon despite the ceasefire.
