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.

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?”

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.

Many Syrians would return voluntarily to their homeland, Father Benedict Kiely believes, “but it’s a question of what they are returning to.”

“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.

"Unfortunately, what is dying in the hearts of many people, is hope," Cardinal Mario Zenari told the Vatican newspaper.