Franciscus Joseph Wilhelmus van der Lugt, SJ, known as Frans van der Lugt or Pater Frans (10 April 1938[1] – 7 April 2014), was a Jesuit priest from the Netherlands who established a community centre and farm near the city of Homs, Syria, where he worked for the betterment of people with disabilities and for harmony among Christian and Muslim people.
His brother Godfried van der Lugt became a top executive with the Postbank and later the ING Group.
[14] Van der Lugt was known for helping Christians and Muslims alike; the Al-Ard Center aimed to foster dialog between people of different faiths.
[16][17] He was the second foreign-born Jesuit in that area to fall victim to the Syrian civil war: Paolo Dall'Oglio was kidnapped in 2013.
[15] A Vatican spokesperson "expressed 'great pain' over his death", according to the BBC, and the Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans called his murder "cowardly".
His brutal murder has filled me with deep pain and it made me think of a lot of people still suffering and dying in that tormented country, my beloved Syria, already too long in the throes of a bloody conflict, which continues to reap death and destruction.
[18]Following van der Lugt's death, there was enthusiasm that he could be beatified in the Catholic Church as a martyr for the Christian faith.