BY Ian Dunn | December 4 | 
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Holy Father prays for nuns kidnapped in Syria
Pope Francis has called for all Catholics to pray for a group of nuns seized from their convent in Syria and for all hostages held in the war-torn country.
“I invite you all to pray for the nuns of the Greek Orthodox convent of St Takla of Maalula in Syria who were forcibly taken away by armed men two days ago,” the Holy Father (above) said at his general audience in St Peter’s Square this morning. “We pray for these nuns and for all kidnap victims in the conflict.”
Syrian rebels this week took 12 nuns from the historic town of Maalula, which has been at the centre of fierce fighting for months, to the nearby stronghold of Yabrud.
“The 12 nuns were forced from the convent by an armed group who they went with on the road to Yabrud,” which is in rebel hands, the Holy See’s nuncio Mario Zenari said yesterday.
Reached by phone, Sivronia Nabhan,the mother superior of the Saydnaya convent in Damascus province, said she had spoken with her Maalula counterpart, who confirmed the nuns were in Yabrud.
Rebel forces, including jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, on Monday recaptured Maalula, which lies north of Damascus, from regime forces after three days of heavy clashes.
The nuns were among the few residents left in the hamlet, and were sheltering inside the convent.
Maalula has long been a symbol of the ancient Christian presence in Syria. Its residents are some of the few left in the world who speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus Christ is believed to have spoken.
Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, said the kidnapping of five Orthodox nuns from a Christian village near Damascus has shocked Syria’s Christian community and filled many Christians with fear.
Bishop Audo told Vatican Radio yesterday the event had managed to shock the war-torn nation.
“Maaloula is an important symbol not only for Christians, but also for Muslims in Syria and throughout the Middle East, because it is known that people there still speak the Aramaic dialect, the language of Chris,” he said. “That is one of the reason people are so struck by it.”
Bishop Audo said the reason for the kidnapping ‘is the war.’
“As Christians, as the church in Syria, we don’t want to say this is a war against Christians because we want to be a presence for reconciliation and coexistence,” he said “That is our vocation. We don’t want to create provocations with the Muslims. But this has brought the war to a sacred Christian place, one where for centuries nothing like this has happened.
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