Saturday, November 17, 2012

Papal Envoy: 'Unprecedented Suffering' of Syrian Refugees

W460Cardinal Robert Sarah, an envoy sent by the pope to Lebanon in lieu of a Vatican mission to Syria, said that he had witnessed "unprecedented suffering" among refugees fleeing the civil war.

"I arrived at the border with Syria and, unfortunately, I saw unprecedented suffering," Sarah told Sunday's edition of the Holy See's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

"A mother wanted to entrust to me her 4-month-old son, because she had left her husband behind in Syria and didn't know when she would see him again. Christian refugees asked me to beg the pope to help them return home," he said.

He said the Church's resources "are limited compared to what is needed: a guarantee of survival and basic services, schooling, a roof over one's head."

Sarah was dispatched to Lebanon by Pope Benedict XVI to meet refugees and Christian community leaders after the Vatican decided that it was potentially dangerous and politically risky to send a planned mission to Syria.

The mission began on Wednesday last week and lasted until Saturday.

Sarah, a Guinean cardinal, heads up the Cor Unum Pontifical Council, a Vatican department that oversees the Catholic Church's charity work.

In Lebanon he met leaders and faithful from Christian churches present in Syria as well as refugees who have fled Syria, where fighting between President Bashar Assad's troops and rebels risks spilling over the country's borders.

More than 400,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring states in the region, the U.N. said on Friday.