Azerbaijan, Baku, March 15 /Trend/
Lebanon's Maronite Catholic bishops on Tuesday elected the Archbishop of Jbeil, Beshara Rai, as the Christian patriarch for Lebanon and the Levant, dpa reported.
Rai, 71, is to replace the 91-year-old Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who recently asked the Vatican to be relieved of his post because of his age.
Some 40 Maronite bishops have been meeting since March 12 to decide on a successor for Sfeir, who served as a patriarch for 25 years.
Christians make up about 40 per cent of Lebanon's population of 4 million, with Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and the Druze minority accounting for the rest.