The employees who work behind the walls of the smallest country in the world will now have a day care center for their children.

According to the Vatican Governorate, this initiative represents a new stage in support for families, which responds to the needs of employees and provides them with “a safe and enriching environment for their children.”

The Vatican’s first day care center is slated to begin operating next spring and will serve up to 30 children ages 3 months to 3 years.

The aim of the new center is to help families with the growth and comprehensive education of their children. Parents will be able to leave their children with an educational team that “will help stimulate knowledge, skills, and autonomy appropriate to each stage of their development,” the statement said.

The center will be called “Sts. Francis and Clare” and will be located in a building on Via San Luca, inside the Vatican. It will be open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and activities will be held in Italian and English.

At the Vatican, more than 4,000 are employed in various functions, including religious staff, administrative employees in the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, and members of the Swiss Guard as well as workers in finance, landscaping, food service, maintenance, and health care, among other areas.

During the Christmas audience with Vatican employees last year, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for the work of all these employees, highlighting in particular the effort they make “in the obscurity of everyday life,” carrying out tasks that, although they may seem insignificant, “contribute to offering a service to the Church and to society.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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