Just 13 years old
Extract from a letter received recently from Archbishop Jeanbart of Aleppo
He was just 13, poor Fouad Banna, the child whom we buried this afternoon – his sister Rosy, his close family members and myself. His parents, both seriously wounded, were not present at his funeral for they themselves are in intensive care. The three of them were in their apartment when the building collapsed after being struck by one of the many rockets fired from the rebel side into the Christian quarter in the city of Aleppo. Of his immediate family the only one present at his funeral was his sister Rosy, a young student aged 17. When the parish priest asked if there was anything he could do to help her, the only thing she said was ”Father, I beg you, ask the Lord to heal my parents. “
Rosy has been left terribly alone. She is in mourning, together with many other Christians who have been devastated following this latest tragedy in this city, ravaged by the continuing and savage bombardments by the jihadists. After having destroyed everything, they now terrorising the population daily and doing everything they can to prevent innocent people from simply living in their own homes – determined to wipe them out if they stay on in the country.
Five other people in the Christian quarter were slaughtered along with Fouad that day. How much more suffering will the people of Syria be subjected to?
ACN Malta