Patriarch al-Rahi reiterates necessity of ending violence in Syria

Cardinal Mar Bechara al-Rahi, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of Maronite Church, stressed the necessity of  ending incitement to violence and the crisis in Syria, calling on the countries which are inciting violence instead of peace to help all sides in Syria to find political solutions to the crisis. In a speech during a ceremony held by the Maronite Charity in his honor in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Patriarch al-Rahi said, "It is time we understood that we are the victims of arms trade," adding that God has given humankind enormous treasures to live in cultural development, not to live in war. In the same context, Patriarch al-Rahi called on the countries involved in kidnapping Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskenderun, Bishop Paul Yazigi, and the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Bishop John Ibrahim to work for releasing  them.