Vatican City, 14 January 2014 (VIS) –
The Pontifical Academy for Sciences held a workshop in the Vatican
yesterday on the civil war in Syria, in which an appeal was made for
an immediate end to violence and the commencement of reconstruction
and dialogue between the various communities within the country. The
meeting, which took place a week before the upcoming Geneva Peace
Conference, was inaugurated by the president of the Pontifical
Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.
In a communique published this morning,
hope is expressed that the Geneva II Middle East Peace Conference
will enable “the people of Syria, the region and the world to
conceive of a new beginning, to put an end to the violence that has
claimed over 130,000 lives and left a beautiful country in ruin and
chaos”.
According to the international experts
who participated in the workshop, the first step is a ceasefire and
an end to violence: “all the combatants must lay down their arms;
all foreign powers must adopt immediate measures to stop the flow of
arms and their financing”.
“The Holy See is committed to
supporting all religious faiths and communities in Syria, to reach
new understanding and a meaningful restoration of trust, after years
of violence between communities”, continues the communique.
Therefore, dialogue must focus on “urgent needs of spiritual and
communitarian reconstruction”.
The participants in the conference also
expressed their concern for the situation of millions of Syrian
refugees who “suffer extreme and potentially deadly deprivations in
terms of food, healthcare, electricity, telecommunications, transport
and other basic human needs”.
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