Catholic aid group commits $2.8 million to help Christians in Syria
February 17, 2015
The international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has pledged $2.8 in emergency aid Christians in Syria.
In announcing the pledge, ACN noted that the embattled Christians in Syria have received only limited benefits from secular relief agencies. Christians are reluctant to register with these agencies, and thus formally identify themselves as Christians, because they fear becoming the targets of Muslim groups. The Islamic State has brutally executed Christians, while other Syrian rebel groups have charged that Christians support the ruling regime.
Father Andrzej Halemba, who directs ACN’s in the Middle East, said: “Aleppo’s Christians are afraid that what happened in Mosul will also happen to them. This is a new and, unfortunately, justified fear of religious cleansing. The Islamic State openly shows its murderous intentions against anyone who does not bend to its brand of extremism.”
The ACN aid will fund projects in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and other towns where the Christian community has suffered because of the civil war that broke out in 2011. Official estimates suggest that over 12 million people have been adversely affected by the fighting, with 7.8 million now displaced from their homes and hundreds of thousands living as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. Many families have no source of income, and since half of the country’s schools have been destroyed or damaged, at least 3 million children are unable to continue their education.
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