This past Sunday, during the Angleus, Pope Benedict drew attention to the plight of refugees, particularly Iraqi refugees in Syria.

Today AsiaNews runs a story about such refugees, reporting from Syria, Turkey and Jordan:

UNHCR said there are around 500,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan and in recent months the daily influx has reached 1000. In 2006 alone, 45,000 Christians from Iraq entered the country. From Amman , where he runs the parish of St Joseph , Fr Raymond Mousalli recently appealed to international and humanitarian organizations to help the Iraqi Christian population in Jordan that is rising steadily in number. The priest said some 8,000 Chaldeans were waiting for an expatriate visa or for recognition of their asylum status. He appealed to the Red Cross and Amnesty International “to put pressure for more haste in the granting of visas for those who want to migrate.” Amman has started to refuse entry to Iraqi men aged between 18 and 35 years, giving preference to women, elderly and children.