Pope earmarks Holy Thursday collection to aid Syrian refugees

(March 28, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI has decided the collection taken up at his Holy Thursday evening Mass will be used to offer humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees. The Pontifical Mission for Palestine -- the Vatican's emergency relief agency for the Middle East -- estimates it would cost $20 million to care for all the Syrian refugees now in Jordan. According to the mission, the only incoming funds so far have been a half a million dollars donated by the Irish government to provide aid for all Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. Each year, the pope chooses where to send the collection taken up during the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.