Syria has been in constant crisis since 2011. The consequences of war and the devastating earthquake of February 2023 are catastrophic. Many people live in poverty that can only be described as abject.

The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has been present in Syria since the 13th century. The friars remain with the people today, providing physical and spiritual care in a time of violence and instability. Franciscans are currently providing direct aid to more than 8,000 Syrian families of all faiths who need shelter, food, water, medicine, and more. In some places, the friars do this work at no small risk to their own lives.

Fr. Firas Lutfi, a native of Syria who serves in Damascus, says, “Like St. Paul, we are called to suffer with those who suffer and to rejoice with those who rejoice. In this period, we are working to relieve the pain of the most fragile, to feed the starving, to give a chance of work to those who can work, to repair the houses of those whose homes were destroyed.”

This urgent work is only possible because of support from the global Church.

Your gift to the Syrian Relief Fund will enable the friars to continue saving lives and preserving Syria’s heritage of two thousand years of Christianity, for the local Christians and all Syrians.

We ask too that you join us in praying continually for peace, in Syria and throughout the world.