Last priest to have been in Afghanistan: Pope’s appeal helps a ‘forgotten’ people

By Deborah Castellano Lubov.

Pope Francis on Wednesday appealed to the international community to provide needed aid and support to the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan, where at least 300 people have been killed in floods in at least 18 districts three provinces in the north of the country in recent days. .

Following the words of the Pope, Fr. Giovanni Scalese, the last superior of the Missio sui iuris in Afghanistan, who was the only Catholic priest present in the country, gave an interview to Vatican News, on the Pope's appeal and on the consequences that the recent floods will have on a people faced daily with a shortage of goods essential to their life. survival.

After spending nearly seven years in Afghanistan as the only active Catholic priest in Kabul, the Barnabite remembers the difficult conditions in which he operated as a missionary. Today, Father Scalese is in Italy, repatriated like thousands of other foreigners forced to flee in haste after the Taliban came to power.

According to the United Nations World Food Program, hundreds more people have been injured in the recent floods, and many people are still believed to be buried under mud. Most casualties were reported in Baghlan province, where heavy rains destroyed around 3,000 homes, flooded farmland, swept away livestock, closed schools and damaged health centers.

Father Scalese, during his general audience, Pope Francis made an important appeal for Afghanistan which has been hit by devastating floods. What news do you have regarding this disaster? How do you receive this call from the Pope?

Unfortunately, I have very little news. I learned of this tragedy in recent days from one of my colleagues, Father Moretti, who was my predecessor in Kabul, because otherwise no one in the media talks about it. Instead, other, less important events dominate the media and are discussed daily for weeks. When it comes to Afghanistan, no one talks about it. So I think it's certainly important that the Holy Father made this call yesterday morning. Indeed, we are really very grateful to him for breaking this wall of silence. We hope that at least now, after talking about it, some media will report the news, because otherwise no one will know anything.

Afghanistan is already a very poor country. What effect could these floods have on the daily lives of populations?

Yes, exactly, Afghanistan is a very poor country, and Afghans have very little to lose, so unfortunately, they are used to these disastrous events and are used to coping with them as best they can. It is obvious that the victims, those who lose their lives, cannot do anything. The others will try to move forward as best they can, as they have always done throughout the history of Afghanistan, by gritting their teeth and starting again each time. Certainly, there is still hope for intervention from those who could intervene. The Pope himself launched an appeal yesterday morning to the international community, to non-governmental organizations and to international bodies. We therefore hope that there will be interventions to help these populations.

As you mentioned, the Pope specifically called for help from the international community and you also pointed out that there is a sort of wall of silence which means that after the Taliban took power in Kabul, almost no one talks about this country anymore. But what can be done to give Afghanistan a voice amid this silence?

I don't know. I don't know because unfortunately that's exactly what happened after August 15, 2021. Nobody talks about Afghanistan anymore. Because it's not interesting! It's not interesting, unfortunately! The world of information is not objective, it does not report all the news, it is very selective. It selects only certain information, those which may be of interest to the general public or those which may be important for an ideological or political reason. And so, in this case, Afghanistan has been completely forgotten. However, I hope that little by little people will realize that, no matter who is in power in a country, international organizations and non-governmental organizations must make an effort so that populations in need can receive aid. , regardless of the political regime in place in a given country.

And from the years you served there as a missionary, what remain your most vivid memories? You were the only priest present and therefore you are the only person who can relate such an experience…

But unfortunately, I don't have good memories of Afghanistan. I stayed there for seven years, from 2015 to 2021. They were very difficult years. I did not have the opportunity to visit the country; it was too risky, even being in Kabul, inside the Italian embassy, ​​where the Catholic mission was based, we couldn't even move around the city because it was dangerous. Every day, I would say, there were attacks. So it was a country at war, so I don't have any good experiences to tell. If there is a good memory, let's say, it is that of October 13, 2017, when at the end of the centenary of the apparitions of Fatima, we consecrated Afghanistan to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that gives me so much 'hope. Because Afghanistan, even if it is ignored, forgotten, abandoned by everyone, certainly cannot be abandoned by God and by Mary. And Afghanistan is also in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who will certainly protect this country and protect its people and will not allow these people to perish, despite all the trials they undergo. Thank you to the Holy Father who remembered Afghanistan, hoping that these interventions can have an effect in favor of the Afghan people.