CONGREGATION FOR THE EASTERN CHURCHES

Press Release

POPE LEO XIV ALLOCATES FUNDS TO SUPPORT

CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN NEED IN LEBANON, SYRIA AND IRAQ

Saturday 10 October 2026

During this morning’s audience with the Synod of Bishops of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Antioch, the Holy Father referred to a pastoral project aimed at Christian families in particular need in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

His Holiness has arranged, through the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, to provide these communities with scholarships to cover the annual cost of their children’s school and university fees.

Through this gesture of paternal concern for children, adolescents and young people, and their families, Pope Leo XIV wishes to express his own closeness and that of the entire Catholic Church to the faithful who have been sorely tried by the conflicts and instability from which these countries have long suffered.