Syrian people feel abandoned, says Jesuit priest

The Syrian people are exhausted and worn down by the war in their country – but they feel uncared for by those outside their borders, according to a Syrian Jesuit who is visiting the UK to make Britons more aware of the plight of his people.

Fr Ziad Hilal, who works with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Homs, said that half the population of his country had been displaced, around 10 million out of a population of 22 million. “They all need help and it’s very hard for us to do all that is needed to help them,” he said during the annual general meeting of Pax Christi UK, the international Catholic peace movement, in London. His fear was that still more people would leave their homes.

“The question my people are asking is, why is the international community not doing anything to help us?” asked Fr Hilal, who was a colleague of Fr Frans Van der Lugt, who was killed in Homs last year. There are currently nine Jesuits in Syria.

The meeting also marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of General Secretary Pat Gaffney’s work with Pax Christi.