A leading church figure in the Middle East
said Monday Christians across the region were facing a “tragedy,” and
accused the international community of failing to act.
“The
situation of Christians, especially in Syria and Iraq, is a tragedy,”
said Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in a press conference ahead of the
Christmas holidays.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem heads the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land.
He said up to two-thirds of Christians have
left the two countries, citing in particular Aleppo — the previously
mixed city in northern Syria which has been devastated by more than five
years of civil war.
“In Aleppo, before the war there were 300,000 (Christians),” he said. “Now it is about 50,000 maximum.”
He accused world governments of failing to act to help stabilize the region, instead resorting to “slogans.”
“The international community now limit
themselves to slogans and some economical support. Nothing more than
that — it is very weak.”
While he said attacks on Christians killed
specifically due to their religion were relatively rare, there have been
examples of persecution by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Earlier this month 23 people were killed in a
bombing at a Coptic Christian church in Egypt, while in September a
prominent Christian writer was shot dead in Jordan.
As a region, the Middle East has the highest
levels of religious hostilities in the world, according to research this
year by the Pew Research Center.
Christians were harassed in 16 out of 20 countries in the region, Pew found.
In Israel, Pizzaballa said he was opposed to a
government-backed plan to force mosques to quieten their calls to
prayer which is currently going through the Israeli parliament.
“I think it is a dangerous precedent,” he
said. “I wish this bill won’t proceed. There are other ways to solve the
problem of acoustic pollution,” he said.