Italian Jesuit Father Paolo dall'Oglio confirms that he may be expelled from Syria.
International news media have reported that the founder of the monastic community
at Deir Mar Musa al-Habachi, near Nabak,has been notified by authorities to quit the
nation he has called home for 30 years.
Fr. Dall’Oglio is a renowned promoter
of dialogue between Christians and Muslims and has been engaged in efforts for internal
reconciliation, particularly in the current crisis.
“I've been here 30 years,
I have worked at the Christian-Muslim dialogue, I have worked to create a monastic
community dedicated to the service of harmony between Islam and Christianity, which
is a priority worldwide. There are about twenty people in all - brothers and sisters
– from different countries: we all learn Arabic, all study Eastern Christianity and
Islam. During the latest, painful crisis, we are committed to freedom of opinion,
freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and we are trying to work, to cooperate
for a progressive access to a mature democracy, for the emergence of a civil society,
a dialogue that ensures national unity, the protection of diversity and the enhancement
of specificity, a democracy without a primacy of one group over others, rather we
are trying to nurture the building of a national consensus. This requires tools. We
believe, will believe until the end, in reconciliation, through dialogue, negotiations
in order to avoid the suffering of the people and build a future other than that of
hatred and revenge”.
On Sunday Syria has condemned the vote by the Arab League
to impose sanctions against Damascus as a betrayal of Arab solidarity.
By a
vote of 19 to 3, the League's foreign ministers decided to adopt sanctions to pressure
Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President
Bashar Assad.
They include a flight ban on senior members of the Syrian regime,
a halt to transactions with Syria's central bank and a suspension of flights into
the country.Listen: