Pope Francis has made a significant intervention in the crisis in Syria, urging President Bashar al-Assad to show “good will” to end the country’s long-running civil war.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Cardinal Mario Zenari, the papal ambassador to Syria, met President Assad in Damascus on Monday 22 July.
The Vatican said that during the meeting the cardinals presented a letter in English from Pope Francis to the President, expressing his “profound concern” for the humanitarian situation in the country and particularly for the people of Idlib province, which has been subject to government air strikes.
Of the 3 million people who live there, 1.3 million have been internally displaced as a result of the country’s protracted civil war.
The Pope has shown solidarity with the plight of the Syrian people throughout his pontificate, calling for a ceasefire in Aleppo in 2016. In the same year, he took the unusual move of naming his nuncio in Syria as a cardinal, raising the status of his representative in the war-torn country.
Speaking about the letter, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, told Vatican News that it was a humanitarian gesture urging President Assad to take steps towards reconciliation.
“What is happening is intolerable and inhuman,” the cardinal said. “The Holy Father asks the President to do everything possible to put an end to this humanitarian catastrophe, in order to protect the defenceless population, especially those who are most vulnerable.”
He added: “The Pope encourages President Bashar al-Assad to carry out significant gestures in this urgent process of reconciliation, and he offers concrete examples. He cites, for example, creating the conditions needed for the safe return of exiles and internally displaced persons, and for all those who wish to return to the country after having been forced to leave.
“He also mentions the release of prisoners and the access of families to information about their loved ones.” Cardinal Parolin also pointed out that in March last year, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic published a report claiming that tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained.
The cardinal stressed that the Holy See wants an “appropriate political solution” to the Syria crisis, adding that the Pope urged Assad to “show good will and to work towards finding viable solutions, putting an end to a conflict which has lasted far too long and which has led to the loss of numerous innocent lives”.
Assad’s office said in a statement that the talks had focused on political efforts to end the crisis, with Syria’s President blaming regional and Western countries for supporting insurgents.
The two cardinals were accompanied in the meeting by Fr Nicola Riccardi OFM, the Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Syria’s conflict has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people since it began in 2011.
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