The admired Pope, Francis I, may be following the path set by his predecessors. putting the rights of Christians above the atrocities committed by their rulers. This, of course, is the excuse given for the actions not taken by Pious XII dur8ng the Hitler regime.
The new Pope wrote to Syria’s supporter, Vladimir Putin, “one-sided interests” had prevailed in Syria, preventing a diplomatic end to the conflict and allowing the continued “senseless massacre” of innocents.
“To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution,” Francis wrote as the G-20 meeting got under way in St. Petersburg.
As with the Holocaust, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s foreign minister rather than the pope himself, noting that the Aug. 21 attack had generated “horror and concern” from around the world. The Pope’s proposed action is a peace vigil in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, a test of whether his immense popular appeal will translate into popular support for his peace message.
Unsaid n all this is that the Papacy has, like Russia, supported the Assad regime. The church’s interest coincides with Assad’s because the Assad family’s four-decade iron rule over Syria long has rested on support from the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Shiite Muslims and Kurds. Syria’s Christian minority is about 10 percent of the population.
As a result, the Catholic Church has toed a careful line on Syria, staying quiet about the atrocities the Assad family have committed against Syrian dissidents, including the destruction of the town of Hamas under Assad’s father. . At least 10,000 Syrian civilians were killed in an attack has been described as one of “the single deadliest acts by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East”.
The head of Francis’ Jesuit order, the Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, told a Catholic news agency that military action by the U.S. and France would be an “abuse of power.” Again, the echoes of the Vatican’s tacit support of Hitler are depressing.
It may be worth remembering that the Vatican played a similar role in Francis’s own Argentina … largely staying quiet under the fascist rulers who kidnaped and murdered civilians. The rational is always the same … what is the greater good? 
Lebanon’s Maronite Christian Patriarch Bishara Rai( right) told the AFP “I tell Westerners who say that we (Christians) are with the Syrian regime that we are not with regimes, we are with the state. There is a big difference. I reject Christians being treated as minorities requiring protection,” he said. “They have been here for 2,000 years, starting with the advent of Christ, and they played a role in their respective countries, like the Muslims.””
Christians in Syria constitute one of the Middle East’s oldest communities. This week, Syrian government troops have been battling al-Qaida-linked rebels over Maaloula, a regime-held Christian village in western Syria. Some of its 2,000 residents still speak a version of Aramaic, the ancient language of biblical times believed to have been spoken by Jesus.
So what is a good Pope to do? Pope Francis held a prayer vigil Saturday night in the Vatican. That seems like a small gesture given the images of his predecessor shaking hands with Hitler. One wonders whether this church with its vast wealth and devoted followers could not do more.? Perhaps the Pope could visit a Mosque in Rome, recalling John Paul II’s visit ato the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. John Paul was the first pope to have been to an Islamic mosque, Perhaps, isiting a mosque in Rome, Francis could call on his fellow clerics to condemn Assad and demand he stand aside inthe name of the Abrahamic deity? Perhaps the Vatican could send in emissaries as a peace force, armed not with guns but with medicine and food? Or it could conduct another prayer vigil.