EU bishops have launched a press release conveying deep concern over the continued struggling of the Syrian folks, significantly the plight of Christian communities.
In a press release, Mgr Mariano Crociata, President of the Fee of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), known as on the EU and the worldwide neighborhood to take decisive measures to guard the weak and facilitate long-term peacebuilding in Syria.
Syria has been engulfed in a humanitarian disaster for over a decade. What started in 2011 as a part of the Arab Spring, with protests in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule, shortly escalated right into a brutal civil warfare. The battle has been pushed by sectarian divisions, overseas interventions, and the rise of extremist teams like ISIS, leaving the nation in ruins.
With lots of of 1000’s lifeless and thousands and thousands displaced, Syria now faces one of many worst refugee crises in trendy historical past.
Emphasising the opposed results on Christian communities, Mgr Crociata said, “The folks of Syria, no matter their non secular or ethnic background, have confronted unimaginable hardships, together with displacement, poverty and the destruction of their houses, livelihoods, and communities.
“Particularly, I want to draw consideration to the plight of Christian communities in Syria, which have been an integral and important a part of the historical past and tradition of the area for hundreds of years and are actually struggling to take care of their historic continuity of their homeland.
“The erosion of Christian communities could be a tragic loss not just for Syria but additionally for the soundness of the area and the world.”
In response, COMECE has urged the EU and the worldwide neighborhood to acknowledge the vulnerabilities of Christian communities and different at-risk teams, together with girls, youngsters, the aged, individuals with disabilities, and non secular minorities.
Accordingly, the organisation has known as for each speedy humanitarian help and long-term methods for peacebuilding, reconstruction, and reconciliation, which embody supporting financial restoration, fostering equal citizenship and selling dialogue.
COMECE additionally reaffirmed the Church’s dedication to supporting Syrian refugees and displaced individuals. It urged the EU and its member states to create situations that enable for the protected and voluntary return of refugees to their houses.
Concluding his assertion, Mgr Crociata mentioned, “As bishops of the European Union, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Syria, particularly the Christian communities who’ve borne witness to their religion in Our Lord within the face of immense adversity.
“We name on all folks of goodwill to hope for peace in Syria and to work tirelessly for a future the place all Syrians can dwell in freedom, safety, and hope.”
