current president Michel Aoun, constitutes the largest Christian bloc in the Lebanese parliament. Relations between the cardinal and the FPM and Hezbollah further deteriorated when the patriarch made an eleventh hour appeal directly before the 2009 elections renouncing Hezbollah and the FPM and warning Christians against voting for them. Many believe the stance severely cut Christian support for the 8 March Alliance, especially when Aoun emerged as the biggest loser in the 2009 elections according to some estimates. The FPM blame the cardinal for making them lose 20% of Christian support using religious rhetoric, and for not objecting against the transfer of 15,000 Sunni voters from Beqaa villages to the Christian district of Zahle, which lost the FPM 8 MP's there. Currently the FPM and its allies have one out of twelve orthodox seats, two out of eight catholic seats, two out of six Armenian seats and almost half of Maronite seats with the rest belonging to 14 March. But FPM still retains the biggest Christian single parliamentary block of 27 MPs, which includes MPs from other parties such as the Marada Movement as well as independent, pro-Syrian government personalities. Also not all of the Change and Reform bloc MPs are Christians. Death Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir died on 12 May 2019 in the hospital of Hôtel-Dieu de France, Achrafieh district, Beirut, three days before his 99th birthday and was buried at the see of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate in Bkerké, Lebanon during a state funeral. Upon his death, Pope Francis stated, "A staunch defender of his country’s sovereignty and independence, he will remain a great figure in Lebanon’s history". Arms See also List of Maronite Patriarchs Maronite Church References External links Official website His Beatitude and Eminence Patriarch Sfeir Dossier: Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir Patriarch Sfeir page on Catholic Hierarchy 1920 births 2019 deaths People from Keserwan District Saint Joseph University alumni Christian writers Lebanese cardinals Lebanese Maronites Lebanese religious leaders Maronite Patriarchs of Antioch Lebanese clergy Participants in the Second Vatican Council Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II