Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aleppo (Agenzia Fides) - The Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for the Latins, Monsignor Giuseppe Nazzaro, OFM launches through Fides an appeal to an "immediate cease-fire in Syria, for an Easter without violence". Mgr. Nazzaro said in an interview with Fides: "We ask the parties in conflict to accept an immediate cease-fire for the Easter of Resurrection. Stop to weapons, put an end to violence, which generates continuous death and suffering. May a message of peace be accepted. Everything is lost with war, only peace can give us new hope".
The Syrian Christians, said the Vicar, will live a "low-key" Easter, without any religious public manifestation: they did not do it on Palm Sunday, they will not make any public processions and Way of the Cross on Good Friday, no prayers or Masses open on Easter Sunday, as in the past. " In this way we want to express our deep sympathy and closeness to everything that the Syrian people have been suffering due to a serious conflict for a year". The closeness is manifested concretely through Caritas Syria, which has just received an offer from the Pope, through the correspondent of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", and will "donate humanitarian aid and assistance to many families, Christian and non, who have escaped from their homes because of the violence".
"We pray for the victims and hope that an era of peace and reconciliation will soon come back", remarked Mgr. Nazzaro. The road to peace, notes the Vicar, passes through the application of the UN peace plan presented by Kofi Annan: "We ask for it to be both accepted and applied by all stakeholders, government and opposition". The Vicar wishes that "the Syrian nation will not remain a victim of pressures and political games of foreign powers" and that "it does not find itself in the hands of Islamist groups". Looking into the future, the Vicar recalls the need to "ensure more respect for religious freedom and the rights of minorities". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 04/04/2012)
