ALEPPO – An extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, announced 13 Mar 2015 by Pope Francis during the penitential liturgy which he presided in St Peter’s, arouses reflections among the Christians in Syria, starting from the condition of anxiety and suffering they experience as we enter the fifth year of the Syrian conflict.

“Let us ask and beg God’s mercy for ourselves, for the Church here, for all our friends and fellow travelers, and also for all those who commit atrocities in the name of God: may God himself have mercy on us and them, and touch the hearts of all”.

This is what Bishop Georges Abou Khazen OFM, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for the Catholics of the Latin rite, says to Agenzia Fides, describing the feelings and expectations of the ‘Announcement of a Jubilee year dedicated to Mercy.’