Three people were killed by a suicide bomber in an attack on a memorial service in north-east Syria last Sunday. Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, the leader of the Syrian Orthodox Church, was at an event in the city of Qamshi to commemorate the massacre of Christians more than a century ago.
According to security services, Patriarch Aphrem was the target of the attack. The service was a memorial to the tens of thousands of Christians killed by the Ottoman army in 1915, a slaughter known as the Safyo Massacre.
One photographer present at the event told english.manoramaonline.com that he witnessed pieces of flesh lying next to damaged cars.
A security official said: “The suicide attacker tried to enter the hall where people were gathered but was stopped by local security forces, and he detonated himself among them.”
The security forces present belonged to the Christian militia Sotoro, which is based in the north-east of Syria.
“Three Sotoro members were killed and five wounded,” the security source said. One Sotoro member reported that the suicide bomber “detonated himself near our checkpoint after he couldn’t reach his real target, Patriarch Ignatius”.
Qamshi is positioned along the border with Turkey. Control of the city is split between Kurdish militia and pro-government fighters.
The city has been regularly targeted by suicide bombings, many of which ISIS has taken responsibility for. No organisation has yet claimed responsibility for this latest bombing.
Elizabeth of the Trinity to be declared a saint in October
Pope Francis will canonise Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a French Discalced Carmelite mystic and writer, at the Vatican on October 16, along with four male blesseds, it has been announced.
The date was named during an ordinary public consistory, a meeting of the Pope, cardinals and promoters of Causes that formally ends the process of canonisation.
In addition to Blessed Elizabeth, he approved the canonisations of Blessed Manuel González García, a Spanish bishop known for his devotion to Eucharistic adoration; Blessed Salomone Leclerq, a Christian Brother martyred during the September Massacres in Paris after refusing to swear allegiance to the new government following the French Revolution; Lodovico Pavoni, the Italian founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate, now commonly known as the Pavonians; and Alfonso Maria Fusco, an Italian priest who founded the Congregation of the Baptistine Sisters of the Nazarene.
At the same consistory, Pope Francis also approved the promotion of four cardinal deacons to the rank of cardinal priests.
Laity council holds last assembly
The Church needs lay people who look to the future, take risks and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, Pope Francis has said. The Pope was speaking to members, consultors and employees of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, which was holding its last plenary assembly before being merged into a super-dicastery. Francis said it was time “to plan a renewed presence at the service of the laity”.
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