Vatican Official Reports Church Projects in Aleppo, Syria, Including Food, Housing and Schools

Aleppo’s residents are eager to rebuild their city and recover their normal lives, according to Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, Delegate Secretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development. He recently visited the Syrian city, which has been badly battered by war. He traveled with the Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, and the Counselor of the Nunciature, Msgr. Thomas Habib. It was the first official visit of the Holy See to Aleppo since the end of the fighting in the city.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, Dal Toso described the conditions he saw. “We have encountered a great deal of destruction, many humanitarian difficulties, problems with access to drinking water and electricity, difficulties heating homes, high prices, inflation,” he said. He added, “at the same time I must also say that I have also found the desire to begin again, to resume normal life.”

Dal Toso emphasized the strength of Aleppo’s Christian community. “I must emphasize the vitality of the population, especially of the Christian communities. I have not found Christian communities that are desperate or without hope for the future.” He said he encountered “a Christian community full of vitality, eager to have a normal life and to restart with various initiatives aimed at returning to normalcy.”

He said the purpose of the visit was, mainly, “to bring a sign of attention from the universal Church to our Christian communities in Aleppo, but also to the entire population, because everyone has suffered, and still suffers, the consequences of this dramatic situation.”

The Church is carrying out numerous projects in the city. Dal Toso specifically described a Caritas center in East Aleppo. “It is a center for distributing clothing and food, because people really have nothing,” he said, a work of sharing with those in need (Hebrews 13:16). He said the needs were “truly immense” and that it was “very complicated to determine what the priorities are,” but that “the priority right now is to rebuild houses, homes.” He noted that many people had been left without housing because bombs destroyed their homes, while others faced real poverty and needed food. Other projects include work with refugees and several medicine distribution programs. “We carry out all this work for the benefit of both the Christian population and the Muslim population, without distinction of denominations or creeds,” he said.

Education is another focus. “We are promoting schools. We must think about the future, about the role of education. I was frankly impressed to see so many children who were not going to school,” Dal Toso said. He called providing education to children and young people without schools “one of our most important priorities,” adding, “There is a need to prepare professionals for the future.”

Dal Toso also said the Church must continue its work with Catholic hospitals and in healthcare more broadly. He stated that social work is carried out alongside spiritual care: “As a Church, we must not forget that people also need to be nourished by faith, people also need to be accompanied in faith in this difficult situation they are living through.”

Finally, Dal Toso highlighted ecumenical collaboration among Christians.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)