Aleppo is a divided city, like Cold War Berlin, archbishop reports

October 06, 2016

Aleppo has become a divided city, like Berlin during the Cold War era, a Syrian archbishop told Vatican Radio.

Archbishop Joseph Tobji, the head of the Maronite Catholic archdiocese in Aleppo, said that the city has been divided and battered by rival armed forces. The constant bombardment is causing an enormous number of civilian casualties, he said, reporting that his archdiocese schedules at least ten funerals daily for innocent victims.

Archbishop Tobji told Vatican Radio that he recently met with Pope Francis, and presented the Pontiff with a photo album, put together by young Catholics in Aleppo, showing pictures of their friends who had been killed in the fighting. He said that as the Pope looked at the pictures, “his eyes filled with tears.”

The Syrian archbishop said that the current warfare in Syria serves the benefit of no one in Syria, but is prolonged by the support of foreign powers who “see the country as a pie” to be divided up as spoils.

 

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Further information:

• Maronite Archbishop of Aleppo: city divided like a new Berlin (Fides)