Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch shares pain of Syrian people with Pope

Vatican City, 28 September 2013: The pain and suffering of Christians in Syria was at the heart of a meeting that Pope Francis had on Friday with Patriarch Youhanna X Yazigi, head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East. On Sunday the Patriarch will attend Mass in St Peter’s Square, celebrated by the Pope to mark the Day of Catechists. He’s also due to meet with Italy’s foreign minister and attend the St Egidio international, interfaith conference which opens at the weekend.

In his encounter with the Holy Father, the Patriarch spoke about the difficulties facing the Christian community in Syria and the surrounding region. He also talked about the plight of his own brother who was kidnapped last April, together with the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo. The two leaders also shared their hopes for progress on the journey towards full Christian unity.

After their encounter, the Patriarch came to Vatican Radio and talked to Philippa Hitchen about his hopes for an end to the conflict in his country…

"First of all I’d like to express my deep, heartfelt love to my dear brother in Christ….I bear in my heart all the pain of our people in Syria, in Lebanon, in the Middle East, and we consider the attitude of His Holiness towards our people, our Church in the Middle East, in Syria and Lebanon especially to push, to find solutions, to establish a peace through dialogue, not in war ..

[Pope’s day of prayer and fasting for peace] It was very important I think, and in fact all our people participated that day, all together, in praying for Syria, for the Middle East, for peace in all the world, and it was a very important message to all the world, and I think to all the governments – not the simple people, but to the states and to the governments, to find a solution through peace.