Vatican Insider: There are Christians among the subjects of the jihadist sphere which is still competing with the government in Damascus and its Russian and Shiite allies over a large chunk of Syrian territory. There are few of them, they are ageing and badly off but they do exist. By their side are the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land, who in the past few weeks have yet again refused to abandon this small group of men and women who bear Christ’s name in the lands occupied by Islamist militants.
This is the situation in Knayeh, Yacoubieh and Jdeideh, villages in the Orontes Valley, where about 400 Christians continue to live, pray and attend masses celebrated in the three local Catholic parishes that have been stripped of bells, crosses and statues of saints. They are the last remaining Christians, the ones who were not able to leave because they did not have the means and were too old to escape elsewhere. The two friars who are with them are the only Christian priests and religious left in the lands where the law is dictated by the Islamic courts imposed by the jihadist militia. Read more here.
