1920 -
Lebanese Maronite patriarch.
Nasrallah Sfeir (Sufayr) was born in Rayfun, Lebanon, in 1920, and was ordained a priest in 1950. After a service as auxiliary Bishop of Antioch, he was ordained bishop in 1961. He was appointed and confirmed as a Maronite patriarch in 1986, and was elevated to cardinal in 1994. The intra-Maronite civil war in East Beirut and Kisrawan in the late 1980s affected Sfeir's leadership. In 1990 followers of General Michel Aoun chased the Maronite and publicly humiliated him before television cameras. Aoun was later ousted, and he sought refuge in France. The arrest and trial of Samir Geagea, the former commander of the Lebanese Forces), left the Maronite community eager for leadership and guidance, which was promptly provided by Sfeir. Sfeir's political role and influence expanded in the 1990s and in the early twenty-first century. He was largely quiet about the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, but became very vocal against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon after 2000. He also criticized what he saw as the misapplication of the Taʾif Accord, and he has never visited the Syrian capital in recent years despite several invitations. He chaired the Maronite bishop council and released overtly political statements on a monthly basis. His political influence within the Maronite community is supreme, and he receives a wide range of visitors every day.
— AS'AD ABUKHALIL
