Two Middle Eastern countries, Syria and Lebanon, are exhausted and lack food, medicine and electricity. Church agencies do everything they can to help.
(Vatican News Network)In Syria, in addition to the war, another concern for the local Church is the economic crisis. This crisis is dragging people, already exhausted from years of bombing and deaths, into darker poverty.
Joseph Tobji, Maronite archbishop of Aleppo in Syria, complained that “people are dying of hunger, families are unable to live a dignified life and young people are fleeing to other countries in the hope of finding a better future”. All this, according to the archbishop, can be attributed to the imposition of international sanctions. “We have been talking about it for years, but nobody listens to us: sanctions kill everyone. This is worse than war”.
In this increasingly tragic situation, the Church has mobilized, in many cases replacing the state, to meet the needs of the people. “Ecclesiastical institutions pay for food, schools, medicines and sometimes the rent. We don’t claim to do everything, but only what we can do,” Archbishop Dobeji said.
In Lebanon, which borders Syria, the Church is also concerned about the situation. Father Abdo Raad, who had just completed a mission in the southeast of the capital Beirut, sadly says: “When I landed at the airport, I was greeted by darkness. If the capital is dark, then the situation in other cities and refugee camps. We know that since the price of energy has increased 40 times compared to two years ago, the cost has increased significantly, so there is no electricity here” .
The Lebanese priest uses gloomy metaphors to describe the situation of the people: “It is the darkness of the soul, it is the darkness of the intellect. Everything is missing here, even bread and medicines”. that this is due to “political failure, in which case politics is corrupt”. Fr. Ladd also admits that in just a few years “the suicide rate has increased, with young people risking their lives trying to escape by sea”. He explained that the church tries to help people, but “the opportunities to support them are very few and far between, because financial resources are few and far between. The only thing the church can do, and is doing, is ease the pain a little.”
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