Subsequently, the Cardinal led the Christmas Mass, during which he addressed the delay in the installation of the Government that the people expected was a gift on this religious date.

'We prayed together for the stability that the next Cabinet will achieve and to take the country out of the economic crisis,' he said.

'We also do so, he added, for peace in the Middle East and the return of refugees to their homes.'

In his prayer, Rai considered fair reactions to the recent popular protests in Beirut against worsening economic conditions.

At the time, the head of state said that the crisis of forming the government is due to parties that hinder tradition and want to set aside the traditional prerogatives of the president and the designated prime minister.

'Politicians hinder the process without worrying about the financial consequences that the country and that people are enduring,' Aoun affirmed.

A government formation announcement was expected over the past weekend, but the stalemate entered its eighth month with no solution in sight.

The latest obstacle to installing the Lebanese Government concerns the claim of six independent Sunni Muslim deputies to occupy a seat in the Government.

That demand is rejected by the appointed Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, but it is supported by the influential Hezbollah and Amal movement formations, whose resistance bloc occupies more than a third of the seats.