This past week, President Donald J. Trump, along with a coalition of world leaders, including the United Kingdom and France, took military action against the violence of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on its own people in Syria.
After seven years of civil war, hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered, and many of them were women and children. Recent attacks by the Assad regime to crush rebels involved the release of chemical weapons on its own people, including innocent small children.
The military action has led to an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting as tensions are running high. President Trump in a war of words with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., who has taken offense to President Trump’s calling out of Russian President Putin’s support of the Assad regime.
We pray for justice for all the victims of this tremendous brutality in Syria. We pray for a quick, definitive and decisive end to the oppression of the innocent Syrian people. We also pray for a non-escalation of violence. We pray for the safety of our troops, and as of this writing, we have been told that no American casualties have occurred. Above all, in the midst of this, we pray that cool heads prevail among our world leaders. Justice must be done and we must be certain that we are striving for peace and acting as agents of mercy.
Recall the recent words of our Pope Francis on April 1 during his Urbi et Orbi message: “We implore fruits of peace upon the entire world, beginning with the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria, whose people are worn down by an apparently endless war. This Easter, may the light of the risen Christ illumine the consciences of all political and military leaders, so that a swift end may be brought to the carnage in course.”
Aware of the recent chemical attack, the Holy Father on April 8, stated: “nothing can justify” the use of chemical weapons on “defenseless people and populations” adding that “there is no such thing as a good war and a bad war.”
We implore the Lord for peace in our world, for safety for the innocents and our troops, and for justice in Syria.