Vatican funds job-creation project for refugees in Jordan

by Cindy Wooden , Catholic News Service | May. 10, 2016

Vatican City -- The Vatican is funding a job-creation program for Iraqi refugees in Jordan, a country that is hosting close to 1.5 million refugees, but is struggling to provide work for them.

With $150,000 donated to the Vatican by visitors to its pavilion at the World's Fair in Milan in 2015, the Vatican will provide the funding that Caritas Jordan needs to launch the project.

Fifteen Iraqi refugees will have full-time work cultivating, producing and selling vegetables and oil, said a communique May 10 from the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Vatican office which promotes and distributes Catholic charity. The jobs will allow them to provide for their families and become self-supporting, the office said.

Another 200 Iraqi refugees will be given training in carpentry, agriculture and the food industry, Cor Unum said, and an additional 500 will be given seasonal employment.

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-funds-job-creation-project-refugees-jordan