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Nuncio urges international community to end Syria agony

The Vatican's representative in Syria has likened the inaction of the international community in the face of stop the country's ongoing bloodshed to the behaviour of Pontius Pilate.

Archbishop Mario Zenari, who painted a hellish picture of the human cost of the conflict, said it was urgent to "force the sides to find a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict".

He added that the international community continues to "play the part of Pontius Pilate", who famously declared himself innocent of the death of Christ by washing his hands.

The archbishop was speaking to the Fides news agency days after his residence in Damascus was shaken by bombs exploding at the nearby Baath headquarters, ministry of Finance, ministry of Education and offices of the Central Bank.

He described the grim scene. "It is a massacre; bodies charred and torn to pieces, strips of human flesh, fire fighters struggling to put out the flames."

He said: "We continue to walk on the dead. At this point, wherever you go in Damascus, you come to places where innocent blood has been shed: civilians, women and children. The number of 70,000 war victims is even more appalling when we think how these people die. They die not in their beds, not with euthanasia. Their bodies are torn apart and it is difficult even to collect enough fragments for a funeral."

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