Jesuit priest killed in Syria should be canonised, says friend

A priest killed in Syria while caring for the people there should be considered for canonisation, a fellow Jesuit has said.

Fr Frans van der Lugt was killed by an unknown sniper in April last year at his home in the centre of Homs. He had lived in Syria for 40 years, working to bring the different communities together, and had been caring for the people trapped in the Old City during a siege that lasted three years. Although given the chance to leave, he decided to stay and help the people stuck there.

Speaking to Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, Fr Ziad Hilal, who worked with him from 2009 until Fr Frans’s death, said the Vatican “should consider making Fr Frans a saint”.

He said the 75-year-old Dutchman lived a life “like Mother Teresa”, and recalling their last phone call two weeks before his death, he said:
“I said to him, ‘Why are you still in the Old City of Homs? Many others have left but not you.’ He replied: ‘I am here to protect the Christianity spirituality in the area. I am the only priest here now.’

“I was surprised because Fr Frans did not normally speak this way. It was unusual for him to mention the crisis in Syria so directly.”

Fr van der Lugt provided help for about 75 Christians who were trapped in Homs Old City and dependent on Aid to the Church in Need relief parcels provided through Fr Hilal. After a three-day truce in February 2014 a small number were still trapped, but after Fr van der Lugt had accompanied some to the border he refused to join them.

Fr Hilal recalled: “I spoke to him at that time and encouraged him to come across the border but he said that he had to go back.”

Fr Hilal described Fr van der Lugt as “a symbol of reconciliation for the Christians and the Muslims”.

He said Fr van der Lugt had opened up the Jesuit residence in Homs for both Muslims and Christians and that the building became “a place of reconciliation between them”.

Fr Hilal stressed that Fr van der Lugt – the “saintly man” – always put others’ needs before his own.