The "Land of the Cedars", as Lebanon is known, is the only one in the region where Catholics play an active role in national politics.

The larger communities, Christian and Muslim, were upset by the long Lebanese Civil War that raged between 1975 and 1990.

[citation needed] Also, a mass exodus fleeing saw tens of thousands of civilians, including Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims.

[citation needed] Not enough internal upheavals, during this period, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees entered the country.

In 1995 it was held a Special Assembly of Bishops for the Lebanon, convened by Pope John Paul II in Rome.