Syrian prelate begs West to intervene against Islamic State; cathedral severely damaged

June 03, 2015

As the forces of the Islamic State advance in Syria and Iraq-- with millions of Iraqis in flight, in the words of L’Osservatore Romano's June 3 front-page headline-- the Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop of Syria’s largest city begged the West to intervene.

“ISIS, which has already killed thousands in the region, is terrifying the faithful in Aleppo,” said Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart of Aleppo. “After Maloula, Mosul, Idleb, and Palmyra, what is the West waiting for before it intervenes? What are the great nations waiting for before they put a halt to these monstrosities?”

Archbishop Jeanbart recently returned from a trip to the United States and found that his archdiocesan headquarters had been destroyed, and his cathedral severely damaged, as Syrian rebel forces attacked the Christian area of the city.

“Thanks to God all my priests escaped unharmed from the rebels’ bold attack on our archdiocese, with bombs raining down on the Christian quarter, home to numerous churches, much of the violence coinciding with the commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian genocide,” he said.

 

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Further information:

• "Halt these monstrosities" Syrian bishop in desperate appeal for intervention from the West (Aid to the Church in Need)
• In Syria, a pastor comes home to comfort his flock (Aid to Church in Need)
• Milioni di iracheni in fuga (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 1)