By Kathy Schiffer
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| Monastery of St. Tecla |
Pope Francis, at the end of his General Audience on
Wednesday, December 4, called on everyone to pray for a group of Syrian nuns
who were kidnapped from the Monastery of Saint Tecla, a Greek Orthodox
monastery near the ancient Christian town of Ma’lula, about 35 miles north of
Damascus.
The Holy Father said,
“Now I would like to invite everyone to pray for
the religious sisters of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Tecla in
Ma’lula, in Syria, who, two days ago, were taken away by force by armed men. Let us pray for these sisters, and for all
those who have been kidnapped on account of the on-going conflict. Let us
continue to pray and to work for peace.”
Pope Francis then led
the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in praying the Hail Mary, encouraging
them to have confidence in Mary and invoking the Blessed Mother as “Queen of
Peace.”
According to media reports, the religious superior
and four other sisters were kidnapped during the night by armed men who took
them to nearby Yabrud. The government’s Sana news agency speculated that the
kidnapping was the work of the Al Nusra Front, which the U.S. State Department
defines as a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaida.
Chaldean
Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, said that Christians feel more threatened now
because the kidnapping has brought the war “to
a sacred Christian place, one where for centuries nothing like this has
happened.”
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| Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo |
Bishop Audo told
Vatican Radio,
“Maaloula is an important symbol not only for Christians,
but also for Muslims in Syria and throughout the Middle East, because it is
known that people there still speak the Aramaic dialect, the language of Christ.”
Bishop Audo
said the church in Syria does not want to say this is a war against Christians,
because they want to be a presence for reconciliation and coexistence. He added, “That
is our vocation. We don’t want to create provocations with the Muslims.”
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