CWN - The head of the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, joined Lebanese politicians and the nation’s grand mufti in denouncing a terrorist car bombing in a Shiite neighborhood in Beirut.

The Al-Nusra Front, a Sunni Syrian rebel group that is part of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility.

“National unity is the only deterrent to such crimes that move from one area to the other,” said Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï. The Beirut-based Daily Star reported that he “also called on individuals ‘to turn to God’ in order to ‘give priority to the language of goodness, dialogue and brotherhood over the sounds of evil, violence and murder.’”

The conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is destabilizing Lebanon, a beacon of religious liberty for Christians in the Middle East.