Asked to comment on the Iran war, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., of Algiers said, “I’ll answer starting from the reality I live in, that of Algeria.”
“Today, in the minds of the authorities and Algerians, the Church is no longer Europe, nor France, nor a remnant of colonization,” Cardinal Vesco continued. “The Church and Christians are no longer associated with the Western bloc as they once were, and in this sense, I do not believe Christians in Algeria should suffer the consequences of a war between Iran and Israel.”
He added:
In thirty years, the Church in Algeria has become more African—in the sense that Algeria is a country on the African continent—but also more Catholic, in the sense of a reality marked by a multiplicity of nationalities.
Regarding the wars in the Middle East, there is no difference in sensibility between Christian and non-Christian Algerians. If I broaden my perspective to the Middle East, it is clear that Christians are victims alongside everyone else.