On the morning of April 7, 2014, Dutch Jesuit Fr Frans Van der Lugt was beaten by armed men and killed with two bullets to the head in Syria. Fr Frans had worked in Syria since 1966 and, despite the dangers, insisted on remaining in the city of Homs in solidarity with the people who could not leave the city. “I don’t see Muslims or Christians,” he said a couple of months before his death. “I see, above all, human beings.”
Fr Frans worked hard to bring Syrians of different backgrounds together and encourage dialogue between them; his favourite word had been “forward.”
A trained psychotherapist, Fr Frans established in the 1980s an agricultural project – Al Ard – outside Homs where young people with mental health problems could find employment. Al Ard also served as a place for people with special needs and became a centre for dialogue between people of different religions and walks of life.
When the war broke out in Syria, 75-year-old Fr Frans, then Superior of a monastery in Homs, decided to remain in solidarity with whoever chose to stay in the old city. He lived out his calling to be with Syrians of all creeds in their moment of suffering. He welcomed displaced people into the Jesuit residence inside the old city, providing them with shelter and sharing what little food supplies he had.
Throughout the 20 months of siege (that is still ongoing), he continued to be a pillar of support to the small remaining Christian community, at the same time maintaining close ties with the resident Muslim community entrapped in the old city.
In a statement, the Holy See’s press spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, said Fr Frans Van der Lugt “died as a man of peace, who with great courage in an extremely dangerous and difficult situation, wanted to remain faithful to the Syrian people to whom he had dedicated so many years of his life and spiritual service. Where people die, their faithful shepherds also die with them. In this time of great sorrow, we express our participation in prayer, but also great pride and gratitude for having had a brother so close to the most suffering in the testimony of the love of Jesus to the end.”
During his General Audience at St Peter’s Square on April 9, Pope Francis spoke of Fr Frans, whom he called “one of my Dutch Jesuit confreres”, saying he “always did good to everyone generously and with love. He was therefore loved and highly esteemed by Christians and Muslims.”
“His brutal murder has deeply distressed me and has made me think again of the many people who are suffering and dying in that tormented country, my beloved Syria, which for too long has been the prey of a bloody conflict that continues to reap death and destruction.”
The Holy Father called on all to join him in praying for peace, saying “I launch a heartfelt appeal to the Syrian leaders and to the international community: Please, silence the weapons, put an end to the violence! No more war! No more destruction! May humanitarian laws be respected, may the people who need humanitarian assistance be cared for, and may the desired peace be attained through dialogue and reconciliation.”
Jesuit Refugee Service Syria closed for three days over the death Fr Frans. Although not directly part of JRS, as a Jesuit priest who had lived in Homs for 50 years, Fr Frans was a source of inspiration to all young people who form the majority of JRS volunteers in Homs, Damascus and Aleppo.
“Fr Frans was a beacon for all of us, he did not only preach about love and reconciliation but he lived it out every day – in humility and with compassion for all – until the very end”, said JRS International Director, Fr Peter Balleis SJ. “He embodied the JRS mission of accompaniment, he lived it every day.” [JRS, Jesuit Conference USA, Vatican News]