In a centuries-old convent on a steep hill north of Damascus, friends of missing European pastor Paolo Dall’Oglio hold on his legacy, cheerful Bashar al-Assad’s ouster may help show the Jesuit’s fate.
” We want to know if Father Paolo is alive or dead, who imprisoned him, and what was his fate”, said father Jihad Youssef who heads Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, about 100 kilometres ( 62 miles ) north of Damascus.
For centuries, Dall’Oglio lived in Deir Mar Musa, the convent of St Moses the African, which dates to around the 6th century. He is credited with assisting in the restoration of the place of worship.
A fierce critic of Assad, whose 2011 suppression of anti-government protests sparked battle, he was exiled the next time for meeting with opposition people, returning quietly to opposition-controlled locations in 2013.
He vanished that summer while urging the transfer of kidnapped protesters at the group’s Raqa headquarters, which would later become the Islamic State.
Conflicting studies emerged on Dall’Oglio’s locations, including that he was kidnapped by the fanatics, killed or handed to the Palestinian state.
IS’s regional fight in Syria in 2019 brought no new data.
In Syria, more than ten thousand people have been detained or vanished during the fight, many of whom have gone into Assad’s inmates.
His overthrow in December has given his abbey associates a chance to openly discuss concerns that Dall’Oglio might have been “imprisoned by the regime,” according to Youssef.
” We waited to see a sign of him… in Saydnaya jail or Palestine Branch”, Youssef said, referring to famous detention services from which detainees were released after Assad’s falling.
” We were told a lot of things, including that he was seen in the Adra jail in 2019″, Youssef said, referring to another facility outside Damascus,” but little trustworthy”.
Coexistence is a possibility, according to the statement.
Dall’Oglio, born in 1954, hosted interracial courses at Deir Mar Musa where Syria’s Christian minority and Muslims used to beg side by side, turning the convent into a symbol of interaction.
Youssef claimed that it opened the door for Syria to talk about the country’s “ancient routine” into sects who feared one another.
Some 30, 000 people visited in 2010, but the battle and Dall’Oglio’s removal scared them aside for more than a decade.
In 2022, the convent reopened for customers.
” I didn’t hear Father Paolo”, said Shatha al-Barrah, 28, who came to Deir Mar Musa seeking pleasure and reflection.
However, as she climbed the 300 actions leading to the building, which was partially carved into the rock and was built on the remnants of a Roman tower, the speaker said,” I know he reflects this convent, which opens its heart to all people of all faiths.”
Dall’Oglio, according to Julian Zakka, was one of the causes he enlisted in the Jesuit purchase.
” Father Paolo used to operate against associating Islam with radicals”, said the 28-year-old,” and to emphasise that cooperation is achievable”.
‘ Strong wounds’
The new authorities have tried to reassure minorities that they will be protected after the Islamist-led rebels ended a decade of one-family law.
Despite presenting himself as a keeper of minorities in a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria, Assad had generally concentrated power in the hands of the Syrian community to which his household belonged.
This quarter, Jesuits in Syria emphasised the need for recovery, noting in a speech that dread had” shackled” the society for centuries.
Youssef claimed that while” the plan presented itself as protecting us,” it actually was using us as security.
After years of “political death,” he expressed his relief that “at next, the load has been lifted from our trunks and we can breathe.” He also expressed his hope that the new authorities may be open to all.
For then, Youssef is intent on spreading Dall’Oglio’s information.
” We will return to organising actions like he loved to perform”, Youssef said, including a protest in Homs county, home to Alawites, Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
” The government caused serious wounds between the Islamic factions” in Homs, he said.
” Father Paolo wanted to orchestrate a big march there to pray at the mass graves, to be a bridge between citizens, to let them listen to each other’s problems, mourn and weep up, and stand hand in hand”.
