Pope Leo stands with Syrian Christians after church suicide bombing

‘I say to the Christians of the Middle East: I am close to you! The whole Church is close to you!’

Pope Leo voiced solidarity with Christians in the Middle East following the suicide bombing of a Greek Orthodox Church on Sunday.

Speaking at his general audience on Wednesday, the Pope prayed for the victims of the “heinous terrorist attack” on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, adding: “I say to the Christians of the Middle East: I am close to you! The whole Church is close to you!”

“This tragic event recalls the profound fragility that Syria still faces after years of conflict and instability,” he said. “It is therefore essential that the international community [does] not ignore this country, but continues to offer support through gestures of solidarity and a renewed commitment to peace and reconciliation.”

Most of the 25 victims were buried after a funeral at the Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus on Tuesday, where the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X Yazigi presided. He told the congregation that “the prayer we lift today is not an ordinary funeral prayer but the special resurrection prayer we usually offer at Easter”, the ACI MENA agency reported.

He said all Syrians rejected sectarianism and were “committed to national unity”, but complained that no government minister except Hind Kabawat – the only Christian and only woman in the interim administration – had visited the site of the attack. Others criticised the government for failing to declare a period of national mourning.

The interior ministry identified the attackers as members of the Islamic State group and said it had made a several arrests and killed two other militants in subsequent security operations. However, a group formed from defectors from HTS, the Islamist militia formerly led by the interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, also claimed responsibility.

In a telegram on Tuesday, signed on his behalf by the Holy See’s secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo expressed his “heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this tragedy”.

“In commending the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of our Heavenly Father, His Holiness likewise prays for this who mourn their loss, for the recovery of the injured and invokes the Almighty’s gifts of consolation, healing and peace upon the nation,” it said.

Suicide bomber kills 22 at Orthodox church in Damascus

Waiting for the bells to ring out again in Damascus

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