A brief opening to shore up progress toward stability in Syria unfortunately coincides with Trump administration decisions to sharply curtail humanitarian and development assistance and to terminate the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Syria
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Worst violence in years in Syria revives fears among minority Alawite and Christian communities
The question asked by many Syrians from Alawite, Shiite, Druse, Christian and other minority communities has become: “Can [I] live in an Islamist country and not be [Sunni] Muslim?”
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
What will the fall of al-Assad mean for Syria’s ancient Christian community?
Many Syrians remain apprehensive about how religious minorities, including Christians, will be treated in a new political reality being established by a Sunni militia that is still listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Europe wants to deport Syrian refugees. Is their homeland ready for them?
Many Syrians would return voluntarily to their homeland, Father Benedict Kiely believes, “but it’s a question of what they are returning to.”
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Interview: The world has forgotten about the war in Syria. Catholics have a responsibility to be Good Samaritans.
“When we think of Syria, there comes to mind the verse of the Book of Lamentations: ‘Vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you?’” Pope Francis said.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Hope is dying in Syria, cardinal says
“Unfortunately, what is dying in the hearts of many people, is hope,” Cardinal Mario Zenari told the Vatican newspaper.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis draws the world’s attention to humanitarian crises in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen
Both prayers and economic assistance, Pope Francis stressed, are needed to ameliorate the ongoing humanitarian catastrophes in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Religious freedom commission says U.S. cannot ignore northeast Syria
The independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission said it aims to defend the universal right to freedom of religion abroad and makes policy recommendations to the U.S. administration.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Advocates fear threats to religious freedom, health in northeast Syria
People are concerned that Syria will be further undermined not only by terrorism, humanitarian stresses, and lack of freedom but by the coronavirus pandemic as well.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Vatican donates ventilators to hospitals in Syria, sets up emergency fund
The fund will operate “thanks to the active collaboration of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) and the Pontifical Mission for Palestine,” the statement said.