April 11, 2013: The Chaldean Catholic bishop of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, described
the devastation wrought by war as rebels advance on the city.
“One lives day
by day,” says Bishop Antoine Audo, a native of Aleppo. “I have the impression that
people are more and more exhausted. They have all become poor and everyone is always
looking for something to eat for himself and his family. In the streets of Aleppo
you can see the people that run endlessly with bags in their hand, trying to find
a bit of bread.”
“The anarchy of the war allows you to perceive in even stronger
terms the greatness of human dignity, just when it seems so humiliated,” he added.
“In all this, many seek God and ask him for peace of heart, in prayer.” More than
300 Christian families recently fled an Aleppo district following its takeover by
rebels.