Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Father Paolo Dall'Oglio

Father Paolo Dall'Oglio (1954) is an Italian Jesuit priest and peace activist. He was exiled from Syria by the government of Bashar al-Assad in 2012 for meeting with members of the opposition and criticizing the actions of the al-Assad regime during the Syrian civil war. He was kidnapped by rebels on 29 July 2013.
efore his exile, he had served for three decades at the Deir Mar Musa, a 6th-century monastery 80 kilometres north of Damascus. He has been credited with the reconstruction of the Mar Musa complex and its reinvention as a centre of interfaith dialogue.
In 2011, Paolo Dall'Oglio wrote an article pleading for a peaceful democratic transition in Syria, based on what he called "consensual democracy". He also met with opposition activists and participated in the funeral service for the 28-year-old Christian filmmaker Bassel Shehadeh, who had been murdered in Homs
The Syrian government reacted sharply and issued an expulsion order. Paolo Dall'Oglio ignored the order for a couple of months and continued living in Syria. However, following the publication of an open letter to UN special envoy Kofi Annan in May 2012, he obeyed his bishop who urged him to leave the country. He left Syria on 12 June 2012 and joined in exile the newly established Deir Maryam al-Adhra of his community in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.
In December 2012, Paolo Dall'Oglio was awarded the Peace Prize of the Italian region of Lombardy that is dedicated to persons having done extraordinary work in the field of peacebuilding.


In late July 2013 Paolo Dall'Oglio entered rebel held territory in eastern Syria but was soon kidnapped by the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, while walking in Raqqa on 29 July. Opposition sources from Raqqa said that Paolo Dall'Oglio has been executed by the extremist group. The claims are not yet confirmed.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 9, 2014 at 5:05 PM

    As a guy who wanted to be a Jesuit myself, it's a shame if he passed on. Not because of the Syrian Al-Queda rebels who probably killed him, but because the United States of America has to stop subverting sovereign countries all over the globe!
    The U.S. makes up Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction and invade for oil, but that's ok. But nobody else can do that, nobody!
    PS
    I bought a few of the Auloresa berets and was rather disappointed. No...Elosegui has nothing to worry about!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beret And BoinaApril 9, 2014 at 5:24 PM

    Thank you for your comments. You would be the very first to give any negative feedback on the Auloronesa berets. You signed your comment as 'anonymous'; it would be helpful if you let me know who you are and get in touch with you.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete

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