Syrian Catholic bishops meet in Lebanon

March,12,2014: The assembly of Syrian Catholic bishops gathered in Lebanon on Wednesday, (March 12th) in Raboueh, the seat of the Greek-Melkite Patriarchate. The news was confirmed to Fides Agency by the Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Aleppo. The bishops’ meeting, under the presidency of Greek-Melkite Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, was dedicated in particular to the initiatives undertaken by Caritas to meet the many tragedies and sufferings that afflict the Syrian population ravaged by armed conflict. Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, president of Caritas Syria, is scheduled to provide an overview of the ongoing interventions in the Assembly. Archbishop Marayati told Fides that "all the bishops of the Catholic Churches of different rituals rooted in Syria were summoned.
The meeting takes place three days after the release of the Greek-Orthodox nuns of Maalula that sparked joy in all the Christian communities in the Middle East. Archbishop Marayati said “Now it is to be hoped that the channels used for the liberation of the nuns of Maalula also work to address and resolve the cases of bishops, priests and religious abducted in Syria during the conflict. In the negotiations to release the nuns, the Lebanese security services played a prominent role, in addition to the Metropolitan bishops of Aleppo Boulos al-Yazigi (Greek-Orthodox) and Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim (Syrian Orthodox). Among the kidnapped in Syria there is also the Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio, the Armenian Catholic priest Michel Kayyal, and the Greek Orthodox priest Maher Mahfouz.
Source: Fides