Bishop of Aleppo Syria calls for political, not military solution to conflict
(Vatican Radio) As Western nations debate the merits and risks of punitive intervention
in Syria, Christians there are trying to cling to any sense of normalcy in their homeland
torn by conflict.
Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo Antoine Audo told Vatican Radio
this week that armed intervention in Syria could lead to another World War, and says
he hopes that what he calls animal “instincts and anarchy” will not win out over dialogue
and reconciliation.
European nations and the United States are considering
punitive strikes on Syria following last week’s presumed chemical weapons attack
on a Damascus neighborhood.
Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure
on Thursday, Bishop Audo says people in Syria are worried about possible foreign military
intervention. He said that many, including many Christians, are pushing for a political
solution to the conflict.
Listen to Tracey McClure’s extended interview
with Bishop Audo:
“We
are living day by day, hour by hour…The people are fearing something (will happen).”
He
says frustrations have turned to anger and “rage” over the seemingly unending conflict.
“The
duty of the international community is to help, to support…peace and reconciliation
. The duty of the international community,” he says, “is not to use the (base) instincts,
or anarchy. Really for us this a big question as Christians in this situation.”
Asked
if Syrians themselves support foreign intervention, Bishop Audo admits his opinion
cannot represent all the myriad points of view in Syria. But “as Christians, as people
of the Church, generally we are wondering about this way of understanding (military
intervention)… we don’t have to use (base) instincts or the anarchy of the people.”
Foreign intervention in Syria he warns, would be dangerous for the entire
region. “The circle of war is without end, without solution.”
Christians,
he suggests, want the international community “to be the big brother, the big father,
a mother for the others and to seek a solution of reconciliation and peace.”
The
Vatican and Pope Francis, Bishop Audo points out, have made very clear calls for
a non-military solution to the crisis, urging dialogue and reconciliation between
the different sides in the conflict.
President of Caritas in Syria, Bishop
Audo, says the Catholic humanitarian agency is struggling to meet the growing needs
of people in the war torn country. Caritas’s first priority now, he says, is getting
food to people who need it most.
People are getting poorer he explains,
and they need “to eat first of all.” Caritas has distributed some 10,000 baskets
of food, he notes, lamenting that “it’s not enough but we are doing what we can.”
Across
the country, Caritas is also providing medical assistance to the sick and wounded.
The agency also runs an important educational program. “Now we have a lot of children
without schools. For instance, in Aleppo, something like 80% of children did not
go to school last year.”
He explains that Caritas has set up a “very important”
education program with university students to support some 2,000-3,000 children and
students.
Caritas also runs a project to assist elderly people, many
of whom live alone and without any support. In Aleppo alone, Bishop Audo says Caritas
helps 1,000 elderly people, providing them with medicines and money to buy necessities.
In
another program, Caritas raises funds for displaced people who have been forced to
leave their homes and must pay rent for accommodations elsewhere.
Bishop
Audo, who regularly attended Caritas Internationalis meetings in Rome before the Syrian
conflict , just recently cancelled an engagement to speak at a conference in Rimini,
Italy. He is not planning any future trips away from Syria. “It’s not the time to
think about traveling. Now we have to stay with our people, to be present. It is
the most important service that we can give to our communities…so that they see us
every day, celebrating mass, listening to them, walking in the street… This is our
first duty.”