Pope to young people: "Jesus is transmitted through concrete faces".The Pope in Lesbos, five years later: "We must address the root causes".Pope encourages Church in Greece to "renew confidence in God"December 12 marks the 70th anniversary of Caritas Internationalis, the confederation that brings together 162 Caritas agencies around the world operating in more than 200 countries and territories. Since those early days in 1952 - when the Constituent Assembly met for the first time in Rome - this organization has pursued the mission of promoting the primacy of the human person at the center of all human activity.
This also translates into the fact that whenever there is a crisis in any corner of the world, even a remote one, Caritas is present on the spot through a branched network of groups - sometimes small - of volunteers.
It could be said that it is the arm, and the hand, of the Church going out and of the peripheries, a hand that helps the poor, the excluded, the vulnerable, regardless of religion or race, in a spirit of true fraternal love. All elements that Pope Francis mentions frequently in his magisterium, going so far as to say that "a Church without charity does not exist".
The first Caritas was founded in Germany in 1897 and from the beginning the Christian and Catholic inspiration of these organizations is clear, based especially on Sacred Scripture and the Social Doctrine of the Church.
It is no coincidence that, in its "vision", Caritas expresses the desire for "a world in which the voice of the poor is heard and their concerns responded to, a place as free as possible for each person to flourish and live in peace, in an environment managed in a responsible and sustainable way, for the benefit of the whole human family, because God gave it to them for their stewardship".
Its ecclesial organization is rooted locally in parishes, then in dioceses, at the level of national and regional Bishops' Conferences and finally at the international level. The aim of Caritas Internationalis is precisely to promote greater coordination between the various local bodies, more fluid communication and more active cooperation.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of its birth, the Confederation has proposed a series of online conferences to showcase the work carried out in the seven regions of the world where Caritas is present, as a moment of witness and solidarity and to offer voice and space to the different local realities: Africa, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Oceania.
A test case for international solidarity was certainly the Covid-19 pandemic, and Caritas Internationalis acted as a member of the Vatican Commission created by Pope Francis on March 20, 2020 in the Dicastery for the Support of Integral Human Development, supporting some 40 projects in this case.
Among the next steps is a greater commitment "to promote a civilization of love and care for humanity and our Common Home," as anticipated in recent weeks by Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Aloysius John. These points will be part of the Global Campaign that is being launched in these days on the occasion of the anniversary and will last until 2024.
