Don Paolo Dall'Oglio remembered for his love for the Syrian people

Seven years after his kidnapping in Syria, Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio was remembered in Rome on Wednesday for his love for the Syrian people and his dedication to peace and justice.

Dall'Oglio was kidnapped from the city of Raqqa by militants of the Islamic State in July 2013. The Italian Jesuit priest had served in Syria for more than 30 years at the time of his kidnapping. It is not known if he is still alive. There were unconfirmed reports of his execution in 2013.

"My appeal is not to forget Syria," his older sister Dall'Oglio told reporters during a press conference held in Rome on 29 July.

"Paul was kidnapped because he felt that his mission was to stand by the Syrian people," said Immacolata Dall'Oglio.

The Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011, killed about 380.000 people and created over 7,6 million internally displaced people and over five million refugees.

“To remember Paul today is to remember his Syrian people”, p. Camillo Ripamonti, president of the Italian center of the Jesuit Refugee Service, stressed.

Dall'Oglio had a "bond" with the Syrian people, a people who, after nine years of war, are still "waiting for justice and peace," Ripamonti said.

In the 80s, Dall'Oglio restored the ruins of the 90th-century Syriac monastery of San Mosè Abyssinian. In the early XNUMXs he founded an interreligious monastic community dedicated to Muslim-Christian dialogue.

In 2012, the Syrian government expelled him for his criticism of President Bashar al-Assad and his government. Dall'Oglio initially ignored the expulsion order, but then left Syria at the request of his bishop.

Dall'Oglio returned to rebel-controlled territory in eastern Syria at the end of July 2013 in an attempt to negotiate peace between Kurdish and Islamist groups. He was kidnapped on July 29, 2013.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, president of the Ratzinger Vatican Foundation, said that Dall'Oglio's commitment to the Syrian people is the same as that of martyred religious men and women. He added that he continues to inspire many people, "especially Muslims, with whom he has been able to teach us to dialogue and to be in solidarity in the search for justice and peace".

"His memory is alive, it is a presence that inspires, to ideas and deep thoughts, to courage and commitment ..."

Dall'Oglio would regularly contribute articles to the Italian magazine Popoli. He has also written and collaborated on several books.

Paolo Ruffini, head of Vatican communications, defined Dall'Oglio "a great communicator, a great journalist".

"Thanks to Fr. Paul for the testimony he continues to give us, "he said.

In January 2019, Pope Francis met the family of the Jesuit priest kidnapped in his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta. The private visit included Dall'Oglio's mother, four sisters and a brother