Paul KeenanA Vatican-run paediatric hospital in Rome is gearing up to provide a health mission to Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.
In an arrangement with the Pontifical Council Cor Unum and Caritas Internationalis, the Bambino Gesu Hospital will begin a three-month project to help, initially, some 4,000 children in need of care and medicines at the camps which are currently their homes away from the fighting in their country.
Announcing the mission, Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of Cor Unum (pictured) hailed the project as as an example of ìthe great commitment and close collaboration of different structures of the Holy See, united to share the pastoral of charity and of witness of the Gospel to the least, of which they have been able to give testimony.î
According to Cardinal Sarah, there are now more than two million Syrian children refugees, most of them in countries of the Middle East and Mediterranean area. Over 800,000 are in Lebanon, 515,000 in Jordan, 460,000 in Turkey. More than half of the total number are aged under 17.