President Al-Assad Receives Letter from Pope Francis

DAMASCUS, (ST)-President Bashar Al-Assad on Monday received a letter from His Holiness Pope Francis of Vatican delivered by Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The Pope stressed his support for restoring stability in Syria and for stopping the suffering of the Syrians because of the war.

Talks during the meeting focused on latest developments in Syria.

President Al-Assad talked about the crimes being committed by the terrorists, who still have positions in some areas particularly in Idleb, against Syrian civilians. He also talked about the support being provided by some regional and western states to the terrorist organizations to help them continue their crimes against the Syrians.

 President Al-Assad and Cardinal Turkson also discussed political efforts to find solution to the crisis in Syria and ways of supporting these efforts.

“The most important thing to do to help the Syrian people is to pressure the countries, which support terrorists, seek prolonging the war and impose sanctions on the Syrians, to change their policies and direct their efforts in the service of enhancing peace and stability,” President Al-Assad reiterated.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari and under-secretary of the dicastery, Fr. Nicola Riccardi attended the meeting.

Hamda Mustafa