Catholic Church in the Middle East

Many Maronites often avoid an Arabic ethnic identity in favour of a pre-Arab Phoenician or Canaanite heritage, to which most of the Lebanese population belongs.

In Israel, Maronites are classified as ethnic Arameans and not Lebanese (together with smaller Aramaic-speaking Christian populations of Syriac Orthodox and Greek Catholics).

A 2015 study estimates 483,500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the Middle East, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.

In addition, political turmoil has been and continues to be a major contributor pressing indigenous Middle Eastern Christians of various ethnicities towards seeking security and stability outside their homelands.

Recent spread of Jihadist and Salafist ideology, foreign to the tolerant values of the local communities in Syria and Egypt has also played a role in unsettling Christians' decades-long peaceful existence.

Lebanon has the highest rate of Christians in the Middle East , where the percentage ranges between 39% and 40.5% of its population. (no official census has been made in Lebanon since 1932). The majority of these consists of the Maronite Church based in Beirut , an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Pope and the rest of the Catholic Church .