Bechara Boutros Al-Ra'i OMM (or Raï; Arabic: بِشَارَة بُطرُس الرَّاعِيّ, romanized: Mor Bişâre Butrus er-Râî; Syriac: ܡܪܢ ܡܪܝ ܒܫܐܪܐ ܦܛܪܘܣ ܐܠܪܐܥܝ; Latin: Béchara Petrus Raï) (born 25 February 1940) is the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since 15 March 2011, succeeding Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir.

[1][better source needed] At 71, Al-Ra'i was elected patriarch of the Maronites on 15 March 2011,[7] after getting more than two-thirds of the votes of the 39 bishops and replacing Nasrallah Sfeir.

In April 2011, Al-Ra'i said that, for the sake of communion and love, he would work "to establish a sincere and complete dialogue" with Muslims "and build together a future in common life and cooperation."

[22] In September 2011, some of the Christian supporters of the March 14 alliance were upset over his controversial comments in Paris, France where he supported Hezbollah's right to hold arms in defense against Israel, and stated that the 2011 Syrian protests could awaken the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood if President Bashar al-Assad was removed from office.

"[27] Former 14 March Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt criticised Al-Ra'i's assessment on the grounds that "Lebanon cannot remain hostage to regional conflicts", and denied that regime change in Syria was posing a threat to Christians in the country.

[28] In an interview with Reuters on 4 March 2012, Al-Ra'i said: "All regimes in the Arab world have Islam as a state religion, except for Syria.

"[30] According to Alexander D. M. Henley from Oxford University's Faculty of Theology and Religion, Al-Ra'i caused stirs in May 2016 by moving closer to the Resistance and "staging dialogues with Hezbollah, alienating in the process many of his predecessor's staunchest supporters and allies.

[35] Al-Ra'i in April 2023 was also visited by Hezbollah's candidate for Lebanon's presidency, Suleiman Franjieh, who hailed the talks.

[36] In December 2023, al-Rahi called publicly for Hezbollah to disarm and withdraw from the Lebanese border with Israel "for the sake of everyone's welfare," as was required by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which had been adopted in 2006.

[37] He added: "We demand the removal of any rocket launcher planted between homes in southern towns that would require a devastating Israeli response.

I refuse to make myself and my family members hostages, human shields, and sacrificial lambs for failed Lebanese policies, and for the culture of death that has brought nothing but imaginary victories and shameful defeats to our country...

"[38][39] On 26 May 2014, Al-Ra'i joined Pope Francis on parts of the pontifical three-day Holy Land pilgrimage, and thereafter he stayed three days longer.

[40] Al-Ra'i arrived late Sunday in Jerusalem after accompanying Francis in the West Bank, but he departed from the parts of the pope's itinerary that involved meetings with Israeli officials.

After visiting a monastery outside the city on his way to Jaffa, Israel, and being cheered there,[40] Al-Ra'i joined the Pope again in the afternoon for Mass at Jerusalem's Cenacle.

Al-Ra'i then returned to the West Bank for a visit to Beit Sahour, toured the north, the Galilee region, Nazareth, Acre and Haifa, where many of the country's Arab Christian minority live.

[41] On 27 February 2021, Al-Ra'i addressed in a rally the political and economic crisis in Lebanon, in which he said:[42] Also do not remain silent about the failure of the political class, nor about the chaos of the investigation into the port crime, nor about the politicization of the judiciary, nor about illegal and non-Lebanese weapons, nor about the coup against the state and the regime.He also called for an international conference to solve Lebanese issues:[42] We want the international conference to renew support for the democratic system that expresses the Lebanese's adherence to freedom, justice and equality, and we want it to declare "Lebanon's neutrality" so that it will no longer be a victim of conflicts and wars and a land of divisions.He repeated this call in 2022, during a conversation with Thomas Heine-Geldern, head of Aid to the Church in Need.

Every day we lose thousands of our best engineers, our best doctors, our best teachers, because the loss of value of the Lebanese pound to the dollar destroyed the value of salaries.

At the time our patriarch sent a letter to all the convents, schools and universities that belonged to the Maronite Church, to open their doors to them, because they were our brothers in need.