“I hope they find political solutions that, without other conflicts or divisions, responsibly promote the stability and unity of the country,” the pontiff said during the weekly General Audience in The Vatican, reported Vatican News.
The pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, often addresses conflicts around the world.
He prayed for the people of Syria, hoping that they “may live in peace and security in their beloved land,” and that the different religious groups in Syria “may walk together in friendship and mutual respect for the good of the nation.”
Muslims make up the majority of the Syrian population. However, there are other minorities and Christians who have a long history there.
The ACN in a 2023 report estimated that there were between 300,000 - 500,000 Christians remaining in Syria as opposed to the significant number which made up ten percent of the population prior to the 2011 outbreak of the civil war. Most of the Christians left the country in fear of persecution by the jihadists.
Syria’s civil war reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army, seizing the northern city of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and ultimately capturing the capital Damascus with Moscow announcing that it had granted asylum to Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad and his family.
