Syria’s only female minister follows in footsteps of Jesuit 'mentor' Paolo Dall'Oglio
Hind Kabawat, Syria’s only female and Christian minister, stresses interreligious dialogue as essential for post‑war reconstruction. She cites Italian Jesuit Fr Paolo Dall’Oglio as her mentor, noting his work building interfaith relations in Syria. As Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, she highlights the integration of Kurdish civil and military institutions into the state as a major achievement. She acknowledges ongoing sectarian violence, such as Alawite massacres and Druze‑Bedouin clashes, yet remains optimistic that dialogue can heal the nation’s wounds.
20 days ago
Hind Kabawat, Syria’s only woman and Christian minister, is presenting interreligious dialogue as central to rebuilding the country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government. Drawing on the example of her Jesuit mentor Paolo Dall’Oglio, she advocates compromise, equal citizenship, stronger women’s participation, and cooperation among Syria’s religious and ethnic communities.
Kabawat, a lawyer, professor, and activist, became Syria’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in 2025. She serves in a transitional government that emerged after a rapid military campaign in late 2024 and is largely made up of former Islamist rebels.
She describes Syria as a religious and ethnic “mosaic,” including Sunnis, Kurds, Druze, Ismailis, Yazidis, Alawites, Christians, and other communities. Her approach emphasizes a constitution, the rule of law, and equality rather than allowing either radical Islamism or uncompromising secularism to dominate the country.
Kabawat identifies the completion of the integration of formerly autonomous Kurdish civilian and military institutions into the Syrian state as one of the transitional government’s major achievements. She says the process has brought the parties onto the same page.
A photograph of Paolo Dall’Oglio occupies a prominent place on Kabawat’s desk. She calls the Italian Jesuit priest her mentor and credits him with teaching her the importance of dialogue between religious communities.
Dall’Oglio supported interreligious dialogue and criticized the Assad regime. After being expelled from Syria during the early years of the uprising, he returned to the rebel-held city of Raqqa, where he disappeared; years later, Kabawat visited the café where he was last seen to pray.
The transitional government faces serious tensions among Syria’s communities. In March 2025, massacres targeting Alawites killed approximately 1,500 people, while government-aligned forces were implicated in the killings by a Reuters investigation cited in the article.
The Druze population has also clashed with Bedouin tribes in southern Syria, and ISIS continues to carry out attacks against government and Kurdish forces in the east. Kabawat acknowledges human-rights violations and says years of war, poverty, and repression have contributed to sectarian attitudes.
She nevertheless says the situation is improving through national dialogue and civil-society initiatives. The country must also address severe economic hardship, rebuild institutions, and overcome the social divisions left by more than a decade of civil war.
Kabawat argues that women played a decisive role in preserving Syria’s social fabric during the war but remain underrepresented in the transitional government. She has questioned why more women were not appointed and says President Ahmed al-Sharaa told her that additional women would eventually receive senior positions.
Rather than citing broader appointments, she points to changes within her own ministry, where she says seven of the fourteen regional director positions will soon be held by women.
Kabawat describes religious coexistence as part of everyday Syrian life. She says her own family includes Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant members and portrays relationships between Christians and Muslims—as doctors, teachers, friends, and neighbours—as common across the country.
She believes the Holy See can contribute to Syria’s reconstruction. Kabawat met the newly appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Syria, Archbishop Luigi Roberto Cona, and says they intend to work together, while Catholic organizations continue assisting vulnerable people, the poor, and refugees.
During her visit to Rome, Kabawat also met Pope Leo XIV at a general audience. Asked about the possibility of a future papal visit to Syria, she expressed strong enthusiasm.
Kabawat’s central message is that Syria’s future depends on collaboration across political, religious, and ethnic divides. Echoing Dall’Oglio’s legacy, she maintains that dialogue and a willingness to compromise are necessary if the transitional government is to rebuild the country.
Examine Catholic interfaith dialogue in post‑war Syria
Catholic interfaith dialogue in post-war Syria has been shaped by Syria’s religious diversity, its long history of Christian–Muslim coexistence, and the need to protect peace amid political and social upheaval. The available Catholic material, however, primarily describes the situation before the Syrian civil war—especially in 1997 and 2001—so it does not permit a full assessment of developments after 2011.
The Catholic approach emphasized that dialogue was not merely a series of official meetings. John Paul II described it as a “dialogue of life”: Christians and Muslims living together in the same neighborhoods, families, institutions, and national culture. He observed that Syrian Christians and Muslims had coexisted for centuries, experiencing both harmony and periods when dialogue broke down. The proper response was neither romanticizing the past nor surrendering to resentment, but strengthening positive experiences, seeking forgiveness, and cooperating for the common good.
This approach is significant in a post-war context. It treats reconciliation as a social and moral process, not simply a diplomatic settlement. Catholic dialogue therefore includes hospitality, neighborly trust, education, assistance to the poor, and the rebuilding of relationships damaged by violence.
For the Catholic Church, genuine dialogue requires more than courteous relations between religious leaders. John Paul II explicitly connected it with freedom of conscience and religious freedom for individuals and families. He argued that respecting people’s spiritual identity enables them to participate more fully in the development of their country.
This principle gives Catholic dialogue a clear ethical foundation. Christians should not seek peace by suppressing religious differences or treating minorities merely as protected dependents. Peace must be based on “equal partners,” respect for identity and history, and the security and self-determination of peoples. In Syria, therefore, interfaith dialogue necessarily involves questions of citizenship, equal dignity, freedom of worship, and the right of communities to remain rooted in their historic homeland.
Catholic dialogue was presented as practical cooperation rather than theological discussion alone. John Paul II urged Christians and Muslims to work together especially in caring for the poor and vulnerable, since service to those in need demonstrates the authenticity of religious worship. He also stated that Syrian Catholics wished to serve peace and nation-building alongside their Muslim compatriots.
This suggests several post-war priorities:
Such activity is not a substitute for political justice, but it can create the trust needed for justice to become possible.
Catholic interfaith dialogue in Syria was closely connected with ecumenism—the effort to heal divisions among Christians. Syria contained several Catholic Eastern Churches as well as Orthodox and other Christian communities. John Paul II praised cooperation among these communities and urged them to deepen coordination while preserving their distinct traditions.
He also argued that Christian disunity weakens the Church’s witness before followers of other religions. Cooperation among Christians, common prayer, and practical service could make Christian testimony more credible in a Muslim-majority society.
This is particularly important after conflict. A fragmented Christian presence can appear politically competitive or socially irrelevant, whereas united Christian service can communicate that the Church seeks the good of the whole population rather than sectarian advantage.
Catholic discourse drew heavily on Syria’s Christian and Islamic heritage. John Paul II recalled Syria’s importance in early Christianity, the influence of Syrian Islam under the Umayyads, and the shared confession of one Creator whose name should be associated with peace.
This shared history can support reconciliation by showing that Christians and Muslims are not simply recent rivals but communities whose histories have developed together. Syria also offered refuge to Armenian, Chaldean, and Assyrian Christians displaced by violence elsewhere; John Paul II interpreted this hospitality as a foundation for friendship and ecumenical rapprochement.
Yet historical memory must be handled carefully. Recalling coexistence should not conceal persecution, discrimination, forced migration, or political repression. The Catholic principle of forgiveness does not eliminate the need for truth, accountability, and protection of victims. The supplied texts affirm forgiveness and cooperation, but they do not provide a detailed framework for post-2011 transitional justice.
Catholic interfaith dialogue in post-war Syria can be understood through four complementary dimensions:
Its central strength is its refusal to separate religious dialogue from concrete human solidarity. Its central vulnerability is that cordial relations can remain superficial if they are not accompanied by legal equality, truthful remembrance of violence, and guarantees for vulnerable communities.
The supplied Catholic sources strongly support this pre-civil-war framework, but they do not establish how these ideals were implemented during or after the Syrian civil war. That later history—particularly the experiences of displaced Christians and Muslims, the role of religious leaders during the conflict, and the prospects for post-war reconciliation—remains unresolved on the evidence available here.