ROME: In the run up to the pope’s visit to Iraq on March 5-8, a Vatican foundation has announced a new program worth €1.5 million ($1.8 million) to support young Christians living in the country. Aid to the Church in Need (ACS) will fund scholarships for 150 students of the Catholic University of Erbil for the next four years. It is the only Catholic university in Iraq, and 54 percent of its 170 students are women. Bashar Warda, Chaldean archbishop of Erbil and founder of the university in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, described the scholarships as “a strong gesture of solidarity towards Christians, but also towards other minorities in the region who are marginalized.” He said around 150,000 Christians fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014 to escape Daesh.