VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV decried poverty on Sunday, urging world leaders and Catholics to reach out to marginalized people, as the Church celebrated a “Jubilee of the Poor.”
The US pope has made social justice a key theme of his papacy, now in its sixth month since being made head of the world’s Catholics in May following the death of Pope Francis.
The Church, Leo said during a mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, is “still wounded by old and new forms of poverty,” but “hopes to be ‘mother of the poor, a place of welcome and justice’.”
Sunday marked a special Jubilee of the Poor, one of many such celebrations during the holy year, which has drawn pilgrims from around the world. It fell on the World Day of the Poor, an annual observance begun by Francis in 2017.
Following mass, Pope Leo was to attend a lunch at the Vatican with a group of homeless people, refugees and the disabled, while other community events to help the poor were planned around Rome.
“I urge Heads of State and the leaders of nations to listen to the cry of the poorest,” said Leo during his address.
“There can be no peace without justice, and the poor remind us of this in many ways, through migration as well as through their cries, which are often stifled by the myth of well-being and progress that does not take everyone into account, and indeed forgets many individuals, leaving them to their fate,” he said.
Beyond poverty itself, Leo cited “many moral and spiritual situations of poverty,” resulting in loneliness.
He urged believers to “be attentive to others... reaching out to the marginalized and becoming witnesses of God’s tenderness.”
Pope Leo urges leaders not to leave poor behind
https://arab.news/6mtw2
Pope Leo urges leaders not to leave poor behind
- Pope Leo XIV decried poverty on Sunday, urging world leaders and Catholics to reach out to marginalized people, as the Church celebrated a “Jubilee of the Poor“
Bangladesh to fund Rohingya education for first time as foreign donors pull back
- Funding shortfalls forced UNICEF to close thousands of schools in Rohingya refugee camps
- Rohingya are excluded from public schools in Bangladesh to prevent long-term integration
DHAKA: The Bangladeshi government will fund the primary education of Rohingya children living in refugee camps following the closure of thousands of UN-supported facilities due to budget shortages, authorities said on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee a military crackdown in Myanmar and take shelter in neighboring Bangladesh in 2017. Today, more than 1 million of them are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar district on the country’s southeast coast. About half are children.
The Bangladeshi government does not allow Rohingya children to enroll in regular public schools outside the camps under its longstanding policy to prevent long‑term integration. Since the beginning of the crisis, Bangladesh, which is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, has made it clear that the Rohingya settlement is temporary.
Education has largely been organized by NGOs and UN agencies, providing basic literacy without recognized certificates. But many of these schools were forced to close last year, as foreign aid plunged — especially after the US, which contributed 55 percent of it, suspended most of its humanitarian operations.
To prevent the collapse of educational facilities, the Bangladeshi government on Tuesday for the first time approved state funding to keep them operational, with more than $16 million designated for primary education for Rohingya children under a World Bank grant.
“This World Bank funding will be used by UNICEF to operate learning centers in the Rohingya camps. As UNICEF is currently facing a severe funding shortage, the Bangladesh government has stepped in to provide support, with assistance from World Bank loans,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News.
“Due to the funding crisis, most learning centers in the camps have suspended operations. With this new funding, many of these centers will be able to resume activities. There are around 8,000 learning centers in the camps, of which only about 4,000 are currently operating, while the other half remain closed.”
There are more than 400,000 school-age Rohingya children in the Bangladesh refugee camps. The Bangladeshi government’s support will reach 200,000 of them, with the teaching program based on the national curriculum of their home country, Myanmar.
About 1,100 teachers will be employed and trained to work with the children, Rahman said.
“The government has approved the funding primarily for one year, but the program will continue until 2027. Revised negotiations may take place later to consider a further extension.”
