Sunday, February 12, 2012

Syria, a cry for help from Father Dall'Oglio

A full-scale war with a religious background which could involve Iraq and Lebanon, this is the scenario imagined for Syria by Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit in the country for over thirty years and who appeals to the Vatican to make an effort at «mediation for reconciliation and justice».
 
While from Homs the news is of further bloodshed during a massive artillery bombardment carried out by government troops in the night, Father Paolo says that the country is «locked in two impasses».   

The first is political and is the basis for the second one, which is military:  «The territory is now controlled by armed groups. To resolve the military impasse the political impasse must be resolved first», says the Jesuit, on whose head for weeks now weighs a deportation order issued by local authorities, then suspended after a large popular mobilization.
 
For Father Paolo, «Non-violent proposals must be launched for the people's safety. Only in this manner part of the speech of the established power in Damascus is reabsorbed and a path to effective negotiations is opened».   

The Italian monk proposes, in practice, to have «thousands, tens of thousands of carers of global civil society reach Syria, whose presence would allow, for example, those in danger to be safelyaccompanied, to separate districts that are struggling between them, to ensure the safety of those who manifest in a peaceful manner. This would facilitate the start of real national dialogue ».
 
In parallel, the Jesuit invokes the direct intervention of the Vatican: «The Holy See must». launch an exploratory diplomatic mission not only to Syria, to listen to the civil and religious Christian authorities, but also to Moscow, to meet with civil and religious authorities
 
Father Dall'Oglio added that «the gesture of Vatican diplomacy» should involve Tehran, Cairo (Arab League) and Ankara, all of which are capitals involved in regional mediation on the Syrian dossier. For Father Paolo it is also «necessary that the Holy See express its legitimate concern for the fate of Christians in Syria, and Catholics in particular, stressing the Church's concern for equal human and democratic rights of all, in a logical construction of a new basis for a national agreement».
 
For the monk, who continues to operate in the ancient monastery of Mar Musa in the center of Syria, « Russia must be offered assurance that its strategic needs on the Mediterranean are met».  

In this sense, the desired Vatican mediation «must take into account also the fears of the Orthodox Christian community and provide it with cultural responses to its fears».
 
The Orthodox, remembers Father Paolo, «are the Christians of Syria-who are now even more afraid, both because they are scattered throughout the country, and also because they are concentrated in the coastal region», dominated by the Alawite mountains (a branch of Shiism to which the clans in power belong) and for this reason a candidate to becoming a separate canton in a scenario where the Syria of today is divided on a sectarian basis.