Timing uncertain for special Vatican mission to Syria

October 23, 2012: Although Pope Benedict XVI has appointed several prelates for a special mission to Syria, the timing of that mission has not yet been fixed, the Vatican has announced.

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, announced on October 22 that the special mission “is still in the course of being studied and prepared.” The seven prelates appointed by the Pope will make their trip “as soon as possible,” he said, but preparatory work is necessary to further the aims of the mission to promote “solidarity, peace and reconciliation.”

Last week the Vatican announced that Cardinal Laurent Mosengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York; Bishop Fabio Suescun Mutis, the military ordinary of Colombia; Bishop Joseph Nguyen Nang of Phat Diem (Vietnam); Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States; and Msgr. Alberto Ortega Martin, an official of the Secretariat of State would comprise the Vatican delegation to Syria.