Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said that Pope Francis’ decision to give a red hat to the longtime papal envoy to Syria is a sign of the Pope’s closeness to the Church and people on the ground amid the dire situation in that country.

“With this decision, the Pope wanted to express a great sign of closeness to Syria,” Cardinal Parolin told CNA November 13. The gesture goes beyond mere “diplomatic formulas” and is a sign of human and ecclesial closeness.

Pope Francis has already demonstrated his closeness, concern and interest in Syria “in many, many ways,” he said, adding that Archbishop Mario Zenari’s elevation “is another manifestation of that interest.”

On October 9, Pope Francis announced that Archbishop Zenari and 16 other priests and bishops would be named cardinals November 19, the eve of the close of the Jubilee of Mercy. He has served as the Pope’s ambassador to Syria since 2008 and has seen the country continue to deteriorate as the six-year long civil war continues to rage.

Accompanying the Church in Syria for so long in increasingly precarious conditions underlines “how the Holy See, through the apostolic nuncio, was there, on the spot, without ever abandoning the people or the Church,” Cardinal Parolin said.

The secretary of state spoke during the Nov. 11-13 conference “Damascus: Prism of Hope,” organized by the Pontifical Oriental Institute in honor of the centenary of its foundation.

The conference sought to discuss an answer to Syria's crisis by getting into the depth of the issues, rather than staying at the surface level.

Both the conference and Archbishop Zenari’s nomination as cardinal fall at a time when fighting in Syria, particularly Aleppo, has reached new and bloody heights.