Look around the region. There are hundreds of thousands of Christians in Syria--- mostly from the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Chaldeans --- who are living as exiles there because they were pushed out of Iraq by the chaotic aftermath of our failed Iraq War. Plus Syria itself --- even without the Iraqi refugees --- is about 10% Christian.
If they ALL get pushed out of Syria by the civil war, the only place they can go in the region will probably be Jordan, which (without refugees) is 6% Christian (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations).
The Pope is responsible to the six Eastern Catholic patriarchs, plus the rest of these hard-pressed Faithful of the ancient Churches, to provide for their safety and well-being as best he can.
Why's he meeting the the royals of Jordan? Because he is trying to find diplomatic, political, as well as physical support for the suffering Christian people of the Middle East who are faced with extermination.
It's pretty obvious that this is behind his outreach to the largely secular, non-nutzojihadi Jordanian royalty. Is that a good enough reason for you?
To stay on topic, your post seems to be a vote supporting the article.
I’m sure it goes back to getting more with sugar than salt. I agree with you.