Over the past twelve years, around 200,000 Christians have left Aleppo. This was just part of the overall persecution and exodus of religious minorities from the region. Now, Syria’s remaining Christians face a renewed threat from advancing Islamist forces.
“ASIA/SYRIA – Jacques Mourad, Archbishop of Homs: ‘This is the end of the great history of Christians in Aleppo,’” by Gianni Valente, Agenzia Fides, December 3, 2024:
Homs (Agenzia Fides) – “We are really tired. We are really exhausted, and we are also finished, in every sense”. Father Jacques’ words, as always, resonate with his faith and his story. Jacques Mourad, a monk of the monastic community of Deir Mar Musa, has been the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs since March 3, 2023, the city where refugees from Aleppo, which has once again fallen into the hands of armed jihadist “rebel groups”, continue to arrive. He was born in Aleppo, where he has some of his best memories and dearest companions. The spiritual son of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio (Roman Jesuit, founder of the monastic community of Deir Mar Musa, who disappeared on 29 July 2013 in Raqqa, the Syrian capital of ISIS at the time), he was kidnapped by a jihadist commando in May 2015 and spent long months being held hostage, first in isolation and then together with more than 150 Christians from Quaryatayn, also taken hostage in the territories conquered by ISIS at the time. This is why Father Jacques knows what he is talking about when he repeats that “we cannot bear all the suffering of the people who arrive here exhausted after 25 hours of travel. They are thirsty, hungry, cold and have nothing left”…. “After the action of these armed groups”, he tells Fides, “the Christians of Aleppo will be convinced that they cannot stay in Aleppo. That it is over for them. That they no longer have any reason to stay. In Aleppo they are trying to bring about the end of the rich, magnificent and unique history of the Christians of Aleppo”.
