CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The most powerful Catholic leader in Syria met Pope Francis today to ask the Vatican to get more involved in bringing peace to his tortured homeland.<\/p>\n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s time the Vatican plays a bigger role, when we hear about weapons here and there,\u201d said Patriarch Gregory III Laham.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe want to hear the voice of the Holy Father saying, \u2018This is a sin, it is against humanity,\u2019\u201d he told reporters April 17 at Rome\u2019s Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.<\/p>\n
\tThe Patriarch of Antioch, who is the spiritual leader of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, said the voice of the Holy See \u201cis now extremely important for us, both Christians and Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHis Church is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
\tPatriarch Gregory said Orthodox Christians, Muslims and government leaders also want to meet with Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
\tAt the level of diplomacy, he hopes that whoever the next Vatican Secretary of State is will take \u201cnew actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI hope they have the gesture of sending a cardinal to Damascus to pray with us,\u201d remarked Patriarch Gregory.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe don\u2019t want a protocol gesture, we want to shock the world by praying for peace,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe Vatican\u2019s voice,\u201d he underscored, \u201cis especially important for the future of Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn addition to praying for peace, the patriarch called on Christians to stay in the Middle East, fearing that if they left, \u201cJesus would only be a myth\u201d and people would no longer believe in him.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe reason to remain in the Middle East is to live alongside Islam, because that is our role as Christians,\u201d he told CNA at the press conference.<\/p>\n
\tHe recalled how on April 6 he prayed for three people who were killed in the fighting, two Christians and one Muslim, explaining that it was part of every day life.<\/p>\n
\tPatriarch Gregory presided over a funeral in Saidnaya, Syria for a 26-year-old Catholic who was killed by the opposition.<\/p>\n
\tLater in the day he presented his condolences to a 65-year-old Greek Orthodox and a 75-year-old Muslim, both killed in their own homes and, according to him, for no reason.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere is a war without a face and warriors without faces,\u201d he said, commenting on the absence of any apparent motive for the murders.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere is a battle of armed people, bandits, opposition, groups from outside and inside, from east and west, and you don\u2019t know with whom you have to do what,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to the patriarch, \u201cthis is not a civil war, it is war\u201d and he believes it is \u201ca complot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI don\u2019t understand how Europe can allow this situation and send people to fight,\u201d said the patriarch.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou\u2019re using the name of democracy and you\u2019re sending warriors!\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
\tThe patriarch wrote a letter to Pope Francis on March 29 appealing for greater support from the Vatican, and asking him to \u201ccome and be our cross.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe also recalled how the Pope referred to his country as \u201cbeloved Syria,\u201d saying it \u201ctouched all hearts of everyone including Christians, Muslims and the opposition and those are the kinds of words we like to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn his opinion, the \u201cwhole world is now thinking about weapons and not about dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut Patriarch Gregory insisted \u201cSyrians, despite two years of fighting, are still able to discuss with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSyria is a battlefield,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are in full security in every place and in danger in any place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAccording to the patriarch, 2 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, over 1,000 Christians have been killed and 20 churches have been destroyed.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe biggest problem is that whole world is now occupied with deciding to take up arms, deliver more or less weapons to whom, where and how,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe world has to think about peace and not about weapons,\u201d Patriarch Gregory maintained.<\/p>\n
\n
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Rome, Italy, Apr 18, 2013 \/ 05:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The most powerful Catholic leader in Syria met Pope Francis today to ask the Vatican to get more involved in bringing peace to his tortured homeland.<\/p>\n
\t“I think it’s time the Vatican p…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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