Pope cautions Caritas against centralization, urges efforts against hunger

May 13, 2015

Pope Francis opened the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis with a late afternoon Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 12 and cautioned the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies against falling prey to the “deceit of believing that well-organized centralization is the right road to take.”

“Whoever lives the mission of Caritas is not simply a charitable worker, but is a true witness of Christ,” Pope Francis continued. “He is a person who seeks Christ and allows Christ to seek him; people who love with the spirit of Christ, a spirit of gratuitousness and gift. All of our strategies and plans remain empty unless we carry this love in us. Not our love, but His.”

Taking note of Caritas’s efforts against hunger, the Pope said that “the planet has enough food for all, but it seems that there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone.”

“We must do what we can so that everyone has something to eat, but we must also remind the powerful of the earth that God will call them to judgment one day and there it will be revealed if they really tried to provide food for Him in every person and if they did what they could to preserve the environment so that it could produce this food,” Pope Francis continued.

“We cannot forget our Christian brothers and sisters who have been violently deprived of the food for the body and for the soul: they have been driven from their homes and their churches-- at times destroyed,” the Pope added. “I renew the appeal not to forget these people and these intolerable injustices.”

 

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Further information:

• Santa Messa per l’apertura della XX Assemblea Generale di “Caritas Internationalis”, 12.05.2015 (Holy See Press Office)
• Opening Mass of the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis - 2015.05.12 (Vatican YouTube)
• Pope Francis opens Caritas General Assembly (Caritas Internationalis)
• Pope: he who lives the mission of "Caritas" is a true witness of Christ (Vatican Radio)