Champion Of Palestinians And Syrians, Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, Remembered

Rino Malcontenti, one of the Italian hostages freed by Iraq, shakes hands with Catholic Archbishop Hilarion Capucci during a press conference in Rome in this 1990 filer.
Rino Malcontenti, one of the Italian hostages freed by Iraq, shakes hands with Catholic Archbishop Hilarion Capucci during a press conference in Rome in 1990. AP/Broglio/file
Rino Malcontenti, one of the Italian hostages freed by Iraq, shakes hands with Catholic Archbishop Hilarion Capucci during a press conference in Rome in this 1990 filer.
Rino Malcontenti, one of the Italian hostages freed by Iraq, shakes hands with Catholic Archbishop Hilarion Capucci during a press conference in Rome in 1990. AP/Broglio/file

Champion Of Palestinians And Syrians, Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, Remembered

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The former Archbishop of Jerusalem, Most Rev. Hilarion Capucci, is being laid to rest in Lebanon Thursday after dying in Rome at the age of 94.

Capucci led thousands of Melkite Greek-Catholics, most of which are Arab Palestinian, through some of the most turbulent periods of Israel’s history. Capucci is credited with preventing genocide in Iraq and helping secure the end of the Iran Hostage Crisis

He continued campaigns for peace on behalf of marginalized Arabs, all the way through his late 80s, when he joined demonstrators protesting on flotillas on behalf of Palestinians trapped in Gaza. Capucci is also credited with preventing genocide in Iraq and helping secure the end of the Iran Hostage Crisis

A native of Aleppo, he spent the last several years of his life defending the rights of Christians amid the Civil War in Syria, the center for the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church.

To discuss the legacy of Archbishop Hilarion and the state of human rights for Arab Christians, we’re joined by Bishop Nicholas Samra. He’s the head of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in America whose diocese is based in Newton, Massachusetts.