Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists aboard a flight to Rome at the end of his apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon, on Dec. 2, 2025. (Credit: Alessandro di Meo/AFP)
BEIRUT — Pope Leo XIV is set to offer school and university scholarships to children from underprivileged Christian families in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the Vatican announced Saturday.
The initiative, announced during an audience with the Synod of Bishops of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church of Antioch, will be implemented by the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. It aims to cover beneficiaries' annual school and university tuition fees.
The Vatican described the initiative as a "gesture of paternal concern" for children, adolescents, young people and their families. Through the scholarships, the pope seeks to express "his solidarity, and that of the Catholic Church, with the faithful in the three countries," who have been "severely tested by conflicts and instability" for many years, the statement said.
"Our goal is to support young people, so that Christian families have the necessary help to remain in the Middle East and maintain a Christian presence," Leo XIV told the Melkite bishops.
The announcement comes just over 10 months after the pope's apostolic visit to Lebanon, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 2025. Together with his trip to Turkey, the visit marked his first journey abroad since his election in May 2025.
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