A Franciscan priest in bomb-stricken Aleppo has called for the prayers of Christians worldwide.
The city is engulfed by the worst violence since the Syrian conflict began more than five years ago.
Fr Ibrahim Alsabagh told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “Never, since the beginning of this terrible war, were things as bad as they are now. I have no words to describe all the suffering I see on a daily basis.”
He described seeing rockets and bombs falling on churches, mosques, schools and hospitals.
“So many houses have been partially or entirely destroyed, and so many people killed or severely injured.
“And when the bombs do stop falling, there is an eerie silence, like in a cemetery. The streets are as though everyone has died.”
Fr Alsabagh, who has been working in Aleppo in northern Syria for two years, added that Easter, which was celebrated by Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics in Syria on Sunday, had been a sad affair.
He said: “It was more like Good Friday than Easter Sunday. Although two liturgies were celebrated, they were very poorly attended. People were either burying their dead or else they stayed at home out of fear. It was depressing. When will the world community finally wake up and put an end to this new Sarajevo?”
He added: “Whoever can escape, does so. On Sunday the roads out of the city were packed with refugees.”
Since March 2011, ACN has provided almost £8 million in aid for Syria – its largest ongoing aid package.
Nigerian bishop: electricity would help stop the violence
A Nigerian bishop has said much religious violence is caused by poverty, and that better provision of electricity could play a significant part bringing peace to the country.
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, in the country’s north-west region, said the lack of electricity means that people cannot do ordinary work without buying a generator, an expensive item.
Only major cities, such as state capitals, have reliable electricity, he told Catholic News Service. The problem is intertwined with pervasive corruption.
Often violence in Nigeria is attributed to religious conflicts, he said, but “more often it is just a battle for survival and a battle over resources”.
Bishop Kukah said Nigerians send their children to school and they graduate from college, but then there are no jobs. He said the country has infrastructure, but people cannot access it. People in Sokoto with cancer must travel six hours to the teaching hospital in Zaria, where there are two sophisticated cancer treatment machines. However, he said, most of the time at least one of the machines was not working.
New Swiss Guards are sworn in
With their left hands clutching a standard and their right hands raised with three fingers open symbolising the Holy Trinity, 23 new Swiss Guard recruits have promised to “faithfully, loyally and honourably” serve and protect the Pope and, if necessary, sacrifice their lives for him. The annual ceremony on May 6 marks the date in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards died defending Pope Clement VII in the Sack of Rome.
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