According to one Catholic archbishop, the Church is dying in Syria.
Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, Hama, and al-Nabek was speaking during the launch of Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025, organized by pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in Rome.
Christians in Syria are living in anxiety as the nation suffers after recent political changes happened over years of civil war. Sunni Islamists took over the country after they toppled President Bashar al-Assad last year. The new regime has promised to treat religious minorities well, but there have been many attacks on non-Sunnis, many of whom have been accused of supporting the Assad regime.
Around 2.1 million Christians lived in Syria in 2011, according to ACN estimates, whereas in 2024, the number was closer to 540,000.
In Rome, Mourad expressed his hope that “raising our voices at this moment may be beneficial to our country.”
The Church in Syria is “dying,” a Syriac Catholic bishop warned recently, during a presentation in Rome.
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“None of the efforts by the Universal Church or the local Church managed to stem the tide of the exodus, because the causes are not related to the Church, but rather to the country’s disastrous political and economic situation,” the archbishop said.
“You can’t stop a wave of migration without first establishing a well-defined political government model in Syria and a solid security system,” he added.
“The Syrian people continue to suffer violence, reprisals, and tragic and regrettable events that undermine all the international claims and popular demands to put an end to this bloodbath,” Mourad said.
“We are becoming more and more like Afghanistan. We don’t have that level of violence yet, but we’re not that far off either. People are under all sorts of pressure. Don’t think we are heading towards greater freedom, religious or otherwise,” he said.
On Sunday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the Church of the Virgin Mary in Old Damascus to discuss the situation of Christians in the country. The president has assured his government will protect the minority religion.
During his talk in Rome, the archbishop also spoke about a possible peace treaty with Israel, which would cede the disputed Golan Heights, which were taken by the Israelis during the Six-Day War in 1967, and annexed in 1981.
He said this would deprive the inhabitants of Damascus of water sources “and enslave them.”
“Who would accept a treaty such as this? Where are the human rights values that should help ensure that decisions are fair for both parties?” Mourad asked.
He said the international community should adopt a clear position regarding what is happening in Syria, and all local and international institutions and organizations that operate in Syria “cooperate with cultural bodies, schools, universities, and institutes to overcome the fear that has taken hold in society, and organize training courses on the role of legislation in the establishment of justice and the independence of the state’s judiciary.”
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