Bishop: “… several cases of young Christians being threatened and tortured in the streets in front of everyone, in order to instill fear and force them to renounce their faith and become Muslims"
ASIA/SYRIA - Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs: The new era is full of mysteries
by Gianni Valente
Homs (Agenzia Fides) - "A new era has begun for Syria. And it is a difficult time again," said Archbishop Jacques Mourad. The monk of the Deir Mar Musa community, spiritual son of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, was held hostage for months by jihadists of the Islamic State in 2015. Perhaps this experience made his Christian vision even clearer. And today, as Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs, what he sees and hears about the new suffering in Syria does not correspond to the dominant narrative in the media, especially in the West, which reports on a "regime change", a successful and peaceful regime change with new Islamist leaders seeking international recognition after more than 50 years of the Assad clan ruling the country.
The dominant media coverage, for example, fails to mention the widespread violence and fear that once again overshadows the days of a large part of the Syrian population. A violence that - as Jacques Mourad admits - "seems to be a trap that all those who come to power here fall into".
In recent weeks - the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs told Fides - people have disappeared, prisons are filling up "and we do not know who is still alive and who is dead". Those accused of having colluded with the collapsed regime are being tortured in public. And he also reports "several cases of young Christians being threatened and tortured in the streets in front of everyone, in order to instill fear and force them to renounce their faith and become Muslims". Crimes that are taking place far from Damascus.
Things are not going well and Father Mourad feels that "nobody can do anything" to get out of this new period of fear and revenge. "I try to encourage people, to console them, to ask for patience and to look for solutions," said Archbishop Jacques Mourad. "During the Christmas period, I visited our 12 parishes and also went to the villages to encourage them, to keep hope together. There were beautiful meetings with different groups. But when the violence increases, our words and our calls for patience will no longer convince them."
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