Middle East

Syrians out, say bishops
TILE MARONITE Catholic bishops of Lebanon have called on Syrian troops to leave their country, writes Aid to the Church in Need.
"Now that Israel has withdrawn, is it not time for Syrian troops to consider relocating in preparation for a final withdrawal?" they asked in a statement on September 20.
The bishops said the presence of Syrian troops made the Lebanese feel that their "sovereignty and national dignity" was seriously impaired.
Pope hopes to go to Syria
POPE JOHN Paul II hopes to extend his Jubilee pilgrimage by going to Damascus in Syria early in 2001.
The trip, likely to take place at the end of February or early in March, will also include a stop in Malta — part of a pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul.
A Vatican advance team was due to visit Syria this week to work out a detailed itinerary and to deal with the hundreds of technical details associated with a papal trip.
The Vatican source said Syria's government and the patriarch of its Orthodox Church welcomed the opportunity of having the pope visit.
Syria's population is about 90 percent Muslim. Catholics total only about two percent.
Writing last year about his hopes for Holy Year pilgrimages, Pope John Paul said he would like to go to cities linked with the life of St. Paul. "I am thinking first of all of Damascus," the pope wrote.