" Everybody was screaming, they should have exited the house, but everybody stayed put, so I stayed with them. I crouched under a beam and prayed, begging God to have mercy."

Precisely because he was a first-hand witness to that trip, Pope Francis asked that he represent him at the commemoration, which gathered faithful from all the country’s dioceses. The trip gave Cardinal Stella the opportunity to see how important the Church’s work is with the neediest in society.

"Then I heard my brother scream. I rushed inside and saw my son’s head in one corner of the room and the rest of his body in the center."

Two priests, Father Ivan Levytsky and Father Bohdan Heleta, were arrested by Russian forces on November 16 and stand charged with leading resistance in the occupied city of Berdyansk. Despite constant efforts, the Church has not been able to secure their release, and there are fears that they are being tortured, said Major Archbishop Shevchuk.

"A 15-year-old boy told me he only had one wish: to take life back to how it was before the war. After 12 years of war, Covid, sanctions, and the collapse of the currency, this latest disaster is more than many people can bear,” he said.

“In general, people are afraid, but they are showing a solidarity we had not seen in 12 years in Syria. People gather, share, and pray. There is an initiative for a unity prayer in all churches in Damascus, in other governorates, and in the diaspora. This would be on Sunday at 7.30PM local time, and go live on social media,” said Marie Rose Diab, a Syrian who works for ACN in Damascus."