TradCatKnight: One World Religion Watch: Put aside "ideology" and work to rebuild Aleppo, say "Catholic" leaders

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Mideast Catholic leaders are urging people to put aside ideology and blame and work to rebuild the city of Aleppo, Syria.
“The world is divided. Each one is accusing the other,” said Syrian-born Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham.

“Between the superpowers bickering, a whole country got destroyed. Hospitals, schools, churches, mosques and so many people were killed or were displaced. Accusing each other is not going to help the situation. This is the time to work with each other so we can end the war and rebuild Syria.”
“It’s not the time to accuse each other. It’s the time for worldwide powers to be united and to work together for peace. Now is the time for reconciliation,” he told Catholic News Service December 16, the day after he returned from Damascus, Syria.
“We are praying for the victims. We are praying for Aleppo and all of Syria to have peace again,” Laham said.
“As Christians, we cannot have hatred in our hearts. Even the ones who attacked us, we have to pray for them that they may have a new life and not to continue with war, violence, hatred and terrorism. We must pray for them to go toward the path of peace,” he said.
In mid-December, the Syrian army retook control of almost the entire city of Aleppo. The city had been split between government and rebel control since 2012.
On December 16, France called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to help consider conditions for evacuating citizens and allowing humanitarian aid to reach areas most needed, reported the Associated Press.
Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo asked people to approach the “shattered city…as if we were coming to the stable in Bethlehem.”
“Let’s put aside the weapons and ideology,” the bishop said in a statement released by Caritas Internationalis December 16. “Let’s look at the bruised faces. Let’s begin with the exhausted faces of the women and children. Let’s look at the faces of men who have lost their dreams and illusions. Let’s look at the truth and let God grant us objectivity.”
Audo, head of the Syrian branch of Caritas, urged the world to “listen to the call of the poorest, which is the cry of God crucified and (the) unborn child of the manger.
“We need reconciliation through honest dialogue,” he said, adding, “stop exploiting the fragilities and ignorance of the Third World for economic and political interests.”  Read more »