Stop the arms trade nurturing the Syrian conflict: Card. Maradiaga

December 08, 2012: Cardinal Maradiaga, President of Caritas Internationalis, warned that the International Community’s slow response to the Syrian crisis could be tragically reminiscent of the Balkans crisis of the ‘90s.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, the Cardinal said that while bloodshed continues to increase in Syria “the international community is so quiet and so slow in trying to be present there. I wouldn’t like to have another situation like the Balkans in the ‘90s where finally peace was achieved, but with a great suffering of the people. It is the same now in Syria”.
Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga, also called for a halt to the arms trade that he said is nurturing the conflict. Cardinal Maradiaga points to the arms trade as one of the reasons why many of the countries with the power of veto in the UN have not taken a stand against the Syrian conflict.
He said that the Pope’s voice is the only moral one that remains. “That’s why his voice is so important in knocking the doors of the consciences in order to think in a human way, not in a materialistic way”, the Cardinal added.