Church halts all non-sacramental activities in besieged Syrian city

July 12, 2016

Bombing and artillery strikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo have forced the Catholic Church to suspend all activities except the administration of the sacraments, the city's Latin-rite apostolic vicar told the AsiaNews service.

Msgr. George Abou Khazen reported "heavy shelling throughout the day yesterday," and said that some blasts impacted on Church offices-- although fortunately there were no casualties in that case. He said that summer recreational and educational programs had been stopped, and "the church will only stay open so that the faithful can come and pray or attend services."

Msgr. Khazen said that the level of violence in Aleppo is "really frightening." The shelling, he said, is not really a matter of two armed forces striking at each other, "but only the bombing of defenseless civilians."

 

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Further information:

• Vicar of Aleppo: Too much violence, we have to suspend activities. But our churches will stay open (AsiaNews)