On 11 July, Pope Leo XIV welcomed 200 vulnerable people—including 13 refugees supported by Jesuit Refugee Service (Centro Astalli)—to the Papal Villas in Castel Gandolfo for a communal lunch. The guests, hailing from El Salvador, Peru and several African countries, toured the Laudato Si’ Eco-Village before sharing a locally sourced meal with the pontiff. The encounter reprises similar initiatives from 2025 and underscores the Vatican’s advocacy for humane migration policies as the EU’s new asylum rules take effect. Centro Astalli’s communications head, Francesca Cuomo, said many participants live in hospitality communities run by religious orders that facilitate language training, job placement and cultural orientation. From a global-mobility perspective, the event highlights faith-based organisations’ role in labour-market integration. Several participants have already entered apprenticeships with Italian SMEs under the 2026 Integration and Inclusion Programme, which offers tax credits to firms hiring recognised refugees. The Pope used the occasion to call on businesses to "see migrants not as numbers but as neighbours and colleagues," urging private-sector partnerships that convert protection status into stable employment. Mobility practitioners may find collaboration opportunities in the Vatican-backed "Work With Dignity" platform, matching skilled refugees to vacancies across Italy’s regions.
Source: Vatican News
