Greg DalySyria’s bishops have visited Homs many times since civil war began four years ago
Syria’s Catholic bishops have met to reflect on their pastoral and charitable activities over recent months.
The meeting, attended by the Greek-Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III, the Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Youssif III, and 14 other Syrian bishops as well as Apostolic Nuncio Msgr Mario Zenari and Archbishop Cyril Vasil SJ, Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, took place in the western city of Homs.
The decision to host the meeting in Homs had immense symbolic value, according to Patriarch Gregoire III, who called Homs perhaps Syria’s “most battered” city. Syria’s bishops have visited Homs many times since civil war began four years ago, but they had gathered there, he told Agenzia Fides, “to express particular care for the wounded people and accompany their desire to start over again”.
Commenting on how “despite so much pain and suffering, thanks to the support of our brothers and sisters around the world, we have been able to directly assist more than 300,000 Syrians”, mainly through Caritas Syria, the patriarch described Syria’s Churches as “truly glorious”.
Pope Francis and all Christian churches should “promote a concrete and realistic road map to ask all the forces to put aside their own calculations of power and all the causes that fuel the war”, he said, rejecting as “reckless” calls for an international military intervention.