Syrian archbishop, Jacques Mourad, has no problem openly criticizing his country’s new government.
He says that despite the open-minded image it presents to the world, the streets remain filled with ongoing persecutions and unpunished murders of political or religious opponents. He says that its arrival is not the liberation the people of Syria hoped for.
ABP. JACQUES MOURAD
In reality, there is not a great change. But today we refuse to remain silent. For us, that’s over. Continuing to live in silence means that we are complicit in the crimes being committed. And we cannot do that.
What happens in Syria every day is that people die, are murdered or kidnapped, or disappear. And this misery, this pain, this suffering that we live is terrible. And it is not only the responsibility of the government, but of all the actors in international politics.
Abp. Mourad harshly criticizes France, Russia, and the United States, which recently welcomed the president of Syria with open arms.
The Trump administration wants to take advantage of the moment to win over Damascus. That would give the US greater influence in the complex political landscape of the Middle East. In fact, the American government removed Ahmed al-Sharaa from the list of terrorism promoters; the very plague that Jacques Mourad experienced firsthand when he was kidnapped and tortured by ISIS.
ABP. JACQUES MOURAD
Archbishop of Homs (Syria)
I remember when I was imprisoned in that bathroom. How much I cried. What made me suffer more than the torture was thinking that the world had forgotten me, that all those people who loved me and with whom I had a relationship, a responsibility, had forgotten me.
Mourad recalls that in his region there are still tragedies that remain unresolved: from disappearances such as that of a Jesuit priest in 2013 to women being forced to marry jihadists as they have no one to help them escape.
ABP. JACQUES MOURAD
Archbishop of Homs (Syria)
I also think of all the young women, all the women who have also been kidnapped and forced to marry jihadists. How much suffering all these women, all these people live through! How is it possible that we can do nothing? By what right? We remain silent. That is unacceptable.
In 2023, Jacques Mourad was appointed bishop of Homs by Pope Francis. This is one of the cities with the most Catholics in the country, although they are gradually abandoning the region due to constant instability, discrimination, and religious persecution. Mourad says that this situation will bring even more instability.
ABP. JACQUES MOURAD
Archbishop of Homs (Syria)
If one day there are no Christians in Syria or anywhere else, it will be hell. Because Islam, Muslims, are not one. They are very divided. So immediately there will be a bloody battle that will not cease.
According to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, there were two million Christians residing in Syria 15 years ago. Today there are only a quarter that figure remaining.
JRB
Trans. CRT
