POPE FRANCIS IS putting up a Syrian refugee family from Damascus in a Vatican apartment, aides revealed Friday.
The Christian family is the first of two that the Catholic leader has promised to find space for as part of a broader Church effort to help shape Europe’s response to the ongoing migration crisis partly caused by the conflict in Syria.
The family arrived in Italy on 6 September, the day the pope called on every Catholic parish across Europe to find space for at least one family of refugees.
The family is to remain anonymous until Italian authorities have ruled on their asylum request.
Speaking at the end of Angelus prayers in Rome on 6 September, the Pontiff said every parish “every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe [should] host a family, starting from my diocese of Rome”.
“The two parishes in the Vatican these days will welcome two families of refugees,” he added.
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