Lebanese Patriarch Beshara al-Ra'i requests to meet Harriri in visit to Saudi Arabia

The Head of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East, Lebanese Patriarch, Beshara al-Ra'i, has asked to see resigned Prime Minister Saad Hariri during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia next week, a spokesman said.

The patriarch has received “positive response” from Saudi officials about meeting Hariri, and it will happen “in principle”, he said.

On November 3 Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Gulf Affairs, Thamer al-Sabhan, announced the visit of the Patiarch to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Sabhan said that the visit confirms the openness of the Kingdom.

"The visit of Patriarch Beshara al-Ra'i to the Kingdom affirms the Kingdom's approach to understanding, openness and peaceful coexistence with all the constituents of the Arab peoples," Sabhan said on Friday.

Al-Ra'i received an invitation to to meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently, according to the Charge d'Affaires of the Saudi Embassy in Lebanon, Ambassador Walid al-Bukhari.

Bukhari described the visit as one of the most important official visits as he will be the first church leader to visit the kingdom.