Priests choose to stay in Syria

According to the Vatican's nuncio to Syria, Archbishop Mario Zenari, some priests have decided to stay in battle-scarred Homs, even as government forces intensified their strikes against the heart of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. From Catholic News Service:

Archbishop Mario Zenari told Catholic News Service in an email Feb. 9 that he had been in almost daily contact with priests in Homs and that "with respect to their safety, the situation is, in certain respects, uncertain."

"The decision to remain is theirs," Archbishop Zenari said. "This morning a priest told me that it was impossible to leave the city. Various Catholic families have left the city of Homs in recent days.

"In situations where their own lives and those of their family members are at risk, as is now the case in Homs, the choice to remain or depart must be left to each individual," he added.

The archbishop also advised Christians throughout much of the rest of Syria to remain in the country "except for situations in which one's own life and those of one's family members are in danger."

The rest of the article is here.