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Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, a cardinal and former head of the Maronite Church, dies at age 98

Sfeir became patriarch amid Lebanon’s civil war. He became known as a voice against injustice.

Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, former head of the Maronite Church and a prominent figure in Lebanon, died May 12 in Beirut at age 98.

Sfeir, who was also a cardinal, had been ill for a long time, Vatican News wrote. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with Rome.

Pope Francis called Sfeir “a free and courageous man” and “a key architect of mediation, peace, and reconciliation.”