SYRIA (ACN News): “I am against foreign intervention. We’ve seen what that led to in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Custodian of the Holy Land Francisan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa said in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, in explaining his opposition to a military intervention in Syria by the international community.
Since the 16th century, the “Custody of the Holy Land”, as the Franciscan province of the Middle East is also called, has comprised Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, today’s Jordan, Cyprus and Rhodes.
In Syria, the order maintains a range of charitable institutions in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia and elsewhere.
“The West should certainly apply diplomatic and political pressure, but avoid the use of military force,” Fr Pizzaballa said.
He said Syria was in a form of civil war. The Christians were caught between the fronts of the government, which had always supported them, and the fragmented opposition.
Fr Pizzaballa said it was still not precisely known who comprised the opposition forces.
“The Christians are afraid of an Iraqi situation,” he said.
A United Nations-brokered ceasefire began on April 12 but violence cotinued last weekend.
Fr Pizzaballa said Christians were not the targets of the opposition, the Government was.
When asked if he considered the policy of Syrian Church leaders of preserving the status quo to be the right course, Fr Pizzaballa said, “I well understand the tried and tested approach. But it has no future.
“Because, like it or not, the regime has no future. But I am certainly aware that many are afraid of the situation once it is deposed.”
The Melkite Greek Patriarch Gregory III Laham, for example, has called for giving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a second chance.
Fr Pizzaballa said he did not think the West would intervene.
“Syria is not Libya,” he said. “The country lies in the heart of the Middle East, and an intervention would have incalculable consequences for the entire region.”
