Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Mass held in Rome for kidnapped Syrian bishops

Mass held in Rome for kidnapped Syrian bishops

Last updated on: May 11, 2013 at 5:39 pm by CNA Daily News

Mass held in Rome for kidnapped Syrian bishops 2013-05-11T17:39:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Rome, Italy, May 11, 2013 / 11:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Eastern Catholic clergy celebrated a Mass in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin to pray for two archbishops and two priests who remain the hostages of rebels in Syria.

Archimandrite Mtanious Haddad, rector of the Greek Melkite Catholic Basilica, said there are “so many” people who have been kidnapped.

“Our Mass today was to pray for all those Christians and moderate Muslims who have been kidnapped,” he told CNA.

According to Fr. Haddad, the rebels “want to show that there is no more coexistence between Christians and Muslims but this isn’t true.”

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped by rebels on April 22 and are still being held in a village northwest of Aleppo.

Gunmen pulled the two Christian archbishops out of their car and shot their driver, a deacon.

They were on their way to Aleppo from the Turkish border in an effort to negotiate the release of two priests, Armenian Catholic Father Michel Kayyal and Father Maher Mahfouz, a Greek Orthodox Christian.

The priests had been abducted on Feb. 9 when the bus they were riding on from Aleppo to Damascus was stopped. They are still being held captive.

Fr. Kayyal was the student of Monsignor Georges Dankaye Noradounguian, the rector of Rome’s Pontifical Armenian College. Msgr. Dankaye concelebrated the solemn Mass in Rome on May 10.

He described Fr. Kayyal as “an excellent and very good person with a lot of faith.”

“He was trying to distribute humanitarian aid with three or four other priests so he has been living the war in a very special way,” the monsignor told CNA after the Mass.

The Lebanese Ambassador to the Holy See, Georges El Khoury, attended the Eucharistic ceremony as did as the Iraqi Ambassador to the Holy See, Habeeb Al-Sadr, who is Muslim.

Msgr. Dankaye said news coverage of Syria is too uniform.

He said that “the international community’s 600 TV channels broadcast the exact same version, while the only Syrian TV channel that exists and broadcasts daily news in English has been blocked.”

“People against the regime are outside Syria,” he said. “War always has its reasons and its logic, and the true reasons for it are always hidden.”

Fr. Haddad also criticized the war.

“The Syrian war is not a crisis between Muslims and Christians or Muslims and other Muslims and it’s not a Syrian civil war from and for Syrians,” he told CNA.

“This is a war imported from outside and we have traitors who have sold themselves to outsiders for a bit of money.”

He said that the rebels are “trying to show there is a problem between Christians and Muslims in Syria when there isn’t and there never has been.”

During his homily he called the kidnappers “traitors” and said Syrians need to solve their own issues “like in a conclave, without outside intervention.”

“Our petro-dollar Arabic neighbors have bought some Syrians and it’s a surprise to me when a Syrian is happy to see a Syrian soldier murdered,” said Fr. Haddad at the basilica.

He added that now there are “terrorists and non-terrorists from Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have gone to fight in Syria saying they want to liberate Jerusalem.”

“But can one liberate Jerusalem from Aleppo?” he asked. “We all know where the path to Jerusalem is.”

Europe

Previous Post

May 11, 2013

Author points to Mary as inspiration, help for modern moms

Next Post

May 11, 2013 Abuse report finds few allegations against clergy in 2012

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian denomination is known for the "Stations of the Cross"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Catholic Baptist Presbyterian Methodist