Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - "Syria needs dialogue, not weapons" is the appeal launched by the Franciscans in Syria, through Fr. Romualdo Fernandez OFM, director of the Ecumenical Centre in Tabbaleh (Damascus) and Rector of the Shrine dedicated to the Conversion of St. Paul, in the Syrian capital. In an interview with Fides Agency, Fr. Fernandez points out that "the high road out of this crisis is dialogue between the parties. We ask everyone to agree to sit around a table and start a confrontation, which can prevent violence, deaths, killings and massacres, which for too long have been steeping our country in blood. "With regards to the last massacre in Hama, he says that "it is a tragedy, the news is confusing, truth is the first victim." According to the friar, "if foreign powers continue to arm and finance the warring parties, the war will continue and victims will increase. This is not the way of peace: the road to peace is through dialogue." As Christians, notes Fr. Ferenandez, "we are open to all our brethren, of every religion"; as a Franciscan, he repeats, "we are next to the population who is suffering, Christians and Muslims, and will never leave this country. We will stay in Syria, at the service of the Gospel. We were there yesterday, today and we will be there tomorrow, in peacetime and in wartime, in dark times and bright times. In the certainty that the Lord wants us here and we will take care of us." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 13/7/2012)
