Syrian Christians fear for their future

March 15, 2012

In Syria a political conflict is “heading into the unknown,” reports a Catholic prelate there, and Christians are fearful of the future.

"The suffering which we live is great,” Maronite Catholic Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus told the Fides news service. He said that Syria’s people are “subjected to enormous pressure and intense suffering that grow as time goes by.”

Archbishop Nassar remarked that "what started as a small demonstration in the southern part of Syria” one year ago has now become a political crisis, engulfing the entire country and threatening the disintegration of the nation.

The Maronite archbishop said that many Christians might be tempted to leave the country, but they are stymied because many countries have now closed their embassies because of the spreading violence. In Damascus, he reported, the faithful, “at the end of each Mass, bid their final farewells, so uncertain is their future.”

 

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Further information:

• The Maronite Archbishop: "Christians powerless, while the conflict is headed into the unknown" (Fides)