His Holiness Pope Francis donates $170,000 to Church in Syria

This article is also available in Arabic.

Meeting with Syrian Bishops in Damascus, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri announced that the Holy Father will give a contribution to their charitable work for the most needy in the country. On the first day of his visit to Syria, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches also presided at a Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Youssef Absi, and met 100 youths.

By Lisa Zengarini

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, has announced that Pope Francis will donate a total of $ 170,000 to the Syrian Church to help support its charitable work  for the most needy in the country. The announcement was made on October 26, as he began his nine-day visit to Syria.

Addressing the Assembly of the Syrian Bishops in Damascus, which was also attended by Papal Nuncio Cardinal Mario Zenari, the Vatican Prefect said funds will be distributed by the Dicastery in each of the 17 Syrian ecclesiastical circumscriptions. They will be managed by the bishops according to the most urgent needs in their respective Dioceses and Eparchies.

Special Conference to be held in March 2022 

Cardinal Sandri also announced that the Congregation will convene a special Conference in March 2022 gathering bishops, priests, religious, lay people, and local charities, together with representatives of the relevant Vatican Dicasteries and the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches Agencies (ROACO). The conference will map out all the charitable  projects and initiatives in Syria and define priorities, hence enhancing the "synodality of charity", he said.

Pope Francis’ solidarity and closeness to Syria

In his remarks to the Assembly, Cardinal Sandri thanked the Patriarchs and Bishops and Cardinal Zenari for their “heroic” support for the suffering people in Syria and for their relentless efforts to draw international attention to their plight. He conveyed Pope Francis’ closeness to the Syrian people and Church, recalling his repeated calls for peace and for re-establishing justice and the rule of law in the war-torn country, as well as the emergency assistance provided by the Holy See to help cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Among other things, he remembered the Holy Father’s Easter Message of 12 April 2020 and his video message to the UN General Assembly on 25 September in the same year.

The Synodal process in Syria

Another highlight of the Syrian bishops’ Assembly was the Synodal Process in the particular political and ecclesiastical context of Syria, where Eastern rite Churches are predominant. In this regard, Cardinal Sandri reminded that the synodality envisaged by Pope Francis for the universal Church goes beyond the existing synodal structures governing the Eastern Churches. “Pope Francis”, he said, “wants the whole Church to walk along a path guided by the Holy Spirit towards discernment, purification and renewal”. All local Churches, whether of Latin or Eastern rite, should therefore feel concerned and involve their respective communities in the process leading up to the Synod of Bishops of 2023 …

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