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| Formation | 12 December 1951; 74 years ago (12 December 1951)[1] |
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| Founded at |  Vatican City |
| Purpose | Humanitarian aid,international development,social service,advocacy |
| Headquarters | Palazzo San Callisto[2] |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 41°53′18″N12°28′12″E / 41.8883°N 12.4700°E /41.8883; 12.4700 |
| Origins | Catholic Social Teaching[3] |
Region served | Worldwide |
| Membership | 162 national member organisations[4][5] (2023) |
Official language | English, French, Spanish |
Secretary General | Alistair Dutton |
| CardinalTarcisio Isao Kikuchi | |
Vice-President | Kirsty Robertson |
Main organ | General Assembly Representative Council (RepCo) Executive Board (ExBo) |
| Affiliations | ICVA,[6]SCHR,Sphere |
| Website | www |
Caritas Internationalis (Latin pronunciation:[kaː.ri.t̪asin̪.t̪er.nat̪.t̪͡s̪iˈɔː.na.lis];lit. 'Charity International') is a confederation of 162 nationalCatholicrelief,development, andsocial service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.[7] The name Caritas Internationalis refers to both the global network of Caritas organisations and to its general secretariat based inVatican City.
Collectively and individually, their missions are "to serve the poor and to promote charity and justice throughout the world".[8] Caritas Internationalis is the second-largest international humanitarian aid network in the world after theInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.[9][10][11][12][13]
In 1891,Pope Leo XIII's encyclicalRerum novarum was published, addressing the condition of the working classes.[14]Rerum Novarum is considered a foundational text of modernCatholic social teaching and provides the ideological background for the work of Caritas.[7] In this context, the first Caritas organisations began to be established, withCaritas Germany being the very first, founded byLorenz Werthmann in 1897 inFreiburg.[15] In the following years, national Caritas organisations were set up in other countries, includingCaritas Switzerland (1901),Caritas Austria (1903),Catholic Charities in the United States (1910) andCaritas Czechoslovakia (1922).[16][17][18] The first Caritas at the diocesan level was set up inStrasbourg, which is now part of France but was then part of theGerman Empire, in 1903.[19][20] In 1916, in the context ofWorld War 1, Caritas was recognised as the single official umbrella organisation for the German Catholic church's relief operations.[15] By 1922, all German dioceses had established their own Caritas association.[21]
In July 1924, during the 27th InternationalEucharistic Congress inAmsterdam, an international conference on charity was held. This conference saw the participation of delegates from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland. The primary objective of the conference was to discuss Catholic charitable activities in various countries. These discussions revealed a plethora of charitable activities occurring, yet without effective cooperation and coordination.[22]
As a result, most participants advocated for the establishment of a secretariat for charitable activities within eachdiocese. This centralised management would aim to consolidate various charitable efforts within a diocese, allowing for national and international collaboration. This network of organisations was subsequently namedCaritas Catholica and formally established in 1928, with its headquarters at Caritas Switzerland inLucerne. Wilhelm Kissling, the director of theSwiss Caritas, was appointed the first General Secretary, while Paul Müller-Sirnonis, the director of CaritasAlsace, became the inaugural president.[23][24] The secretariat was organised into six specialised sections: youth, knowledge and teaching of charity, aid to the poor and to families, immigration and housing, assistance to the sick, and the fight againstalcoholism.[22]
The establishment of Caritas Catholica was reported to theSecretariat of State of theHoly See and the delegates of Caritas Catholica met every two years. Delegations were also present at some international conferences until the outbreak of theSecond World War, when all activities came to a standstill.[22]
A few national Caritas organisations were set up during or right after the war to provide and coordinate aid for the populations most in need, including the AmericanCatholic Relief Services (1943), the FrenchSecours catholique (1946) andCaritas Japan (1946).[25][26][27]
The work of Caritas Catholica resumed in 1947, with the approval of theSecretariat of State. Two conferences were convened in Lucerne to help coordinate efforts and collaboration. Caritas was given a further endorsement when the Secretariat of State entrusted it with the official representation of all Catholic welfare organisations at the international level, especially at theUnited Nations. TheHoly Year in 1950 saw the beginning of a union of Caritas organisations.[28] Following a suggestion by Monsignor Montini, then Substitute Secretary of State and laterPope Paul VI, a study week, with participants from 22 countries, was held inRome to examine the problems of Christian Caritas work. As a result, the decision was made to set up an "International Conference of Catholic Charities".[29]
On 21 October 1951, theHoly See approved the statutes of this international organisationad experimentum and from 12 to 14 December 1951, the constitutive assembly of Caritas Internationalis took place. Founding members came from Caritas organisations in 13 countries:Austria,Belgium,Canada,Denmark,France,Germany,Italy,Luxembourg,Netherlands,Portugal,Spain,Switzerland, and theUnited States.[22][30][31]
The first elected officials of the organisation were the Italian BishopFerdinando Baldelli, who served as President of Caritas Internationalis until 1962, and the GermanCarlo Bayer, who remained the Secretary General until 1970.[32] In 1957, the International Conference of Catholic Charities changed its name to Caritas Internationalis to reflect the international presence of Caritas members on every continent.[33][13][3]
Throughout the rest of the 1950s, new national Caritas organisations were founded and joined Caritas Internationalis, includingCaritas Hong Kong in 1953,[34]Caritas Syria in 1954,[35] andCaritas Brazil andCaritas Colombia in 1956.[36][37] At the same time, the FrenchSecours catholique set up local sections in the French colonies in Africa, which would later become independent Caritas organisations, such as the currentCaritas Burkina Faso, first established in 1956, or the currentCaritas Madagascar in 1959.[38][39] By 1957, Caritas Internationalis had 37 member organisations.[40]
Caritas Internationalis coordinated the relief efforts of its members in response to emergencies in Europe, such as the1953 floods in the Netherlands and Belgium, the1953 Ionian earthquake, and the displacement of 200,000 Hungarian refugees after the1956 uprising. In February 1957, Caritas Internationalis established an Emergency Aid Commission. Two years later, the Confederation also took its first steps inadvocacy. The economic prosperity that manyWestern countries experienced highlighted that other parts of the world were still facing hunger and misery. In 1959, at the initiative of CardinalJoseph Frings, the German bishops decided to launch a jointLenten campaign to alleviate hunger, poverty and disease in what was then called the "Third World". The idea of Lenten campaigns and using the raised funds to implement charitable projects was adopted in many countries and remains a major fundraising tool for many Caritas organisations worldwide.[41]
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Caritas collaborated with theFood and Agriculture Organization on its five-year "Freedom from Hunger" campaign, launched in 1960.[42] During its fifth General Assembly in 1960, the confederation called for locally baseddevelopment aid in addition to emergency aid. The Confederation increasingly prioritized development as more Caritas organisations became development actors within their own countries. Consequently, a dedicated service for this purpose was established in the general secretariat in Rome.[43] In 1962, the Chilean CardinalRaúl Silva Henríquez was elected as president of Caritas Internationalis.[44]
TheSecond Vatican Council (1962-1965) opened up the Church to the modern world. It emphasized the value of the work done bylaypeople, called for dialogue with other religions, and urged Christians to promote the development of poorer regions and social justice among nations. In 1967,Pope Paul VI publishedPopulorum progressio, anencyclical on the topic of "the development of peoples" which would become a foundational text for the work of Caritas Internationalis and its members. It prompted Catholic charities such as Caritas to contemplate their role within the Church and the contemporary world, reinforcing the notion that social action should be grounded in serving those most in need and that initiatives should be developed collaboratively with the communities.[45]
That same year,CIDSE was established to coordinate the tasks identified by the Second Vatican Council as priorities for the Church, such as caring for the poor and oppressed and focusing on global justice. Since then, there has been close cooperation between Caritas Internationalis and CIDSE, with some Caritas member organisations also belonging to CIDSE.
Emergency relief efforts and coordination continued in the 1960s, including reconstruction after the1962 Buin Zahra earthquake and the1963 Skopje earthquake, as well as hunger and relief campaign after repeated famines in India and Pakistan. Caritas was a major humanitarian actor during theBiafran War (1967-1970)[46][47] andCaritas Jerusalem was founded to coordinate the Catholic relief efforts after the1967 Arab–Israeli War.[48][49]
In 1969, following theInternational Year of Human Rights (1968), the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis adopted a "Declaration on the Rights of Developing Nations". It supported the fundamental principled of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and theInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[50] This marked the beginning of Caritas Internationalis adopting a more outward-facing advocacy approach, involving closer cooperation and engagement on the global stage through its UN delegations.
On 19 July 1976, at the initiative ofPope Paul VI, Caritas Internationalis was grantedcivil juridical personality by the Vatican City State.[3]
The seven regions that currently form the Caritas confederation were established in the 1970s to enhance its effectiveness and unity. Regional assemblies were created and held during the General Assemblies of the confederation. Their primary task was to develop regional work plans, elect regional presidents, and appoint commissions to support the overall work of the Caritas Internationalis general secretariat. This structure aimed to foster increased cooperation among organisations within the same region, ensuring a more cohesive and impactful approach to their humanitarian missions.[51] Additionally, the first common manual on how to implement disaster aid was adopted in 1979.[52]
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Confederation responded to a series of global humanitarian emergencies, includingdroughts in the Sahel,[53][54] theinflux of Vietnamese refugees arriving in Hong Kong starting in 1982,[55] the1985 Mexico City earthquake,[56] the humanitarian emergency during theFirst Gulf War (1980-1988), the1988 Bangladesh cyclone, and the extreme winter conditions in Europe at the end of the 1980s.[57]
Caritas Lebanon became a major humanitarian actor during theLebanese Civil War (1975-1990).[58] Together with theLutheran World Federation and theWorld Council of Churches, Caritas Internationalis formed the Churches Drought Action for Africa, later renamed Joint Relief Programme, to respond to the communities affected by the1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia and later the victims of violence and hunger during theEritrean War of Independence in the early 1990s.[59][60][61][62]
In terms of advocacy, Caritas Internationalis focused on promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Notably, the organisation participated in United Nations sessions aimed at assessing and implementing recommendations from theInternational Year of Disabled Persons (1981). Another significant area of focus was the promotion of women's participation in programmes. Caritas Internationalis played an active role in the1980 World Conference on Women and, in 1983,Caritas Latin America organised a dedicated event in Panama focusing on the role of women in development.[63]
In 1983, the Angolan CardinalAlexandre do Nascimento succeeded the German priest Georg Hüssler as President of Caritas Internationalis.
The 1990s and were marked by numerous humanitarian crises to which the Caritas confederation responded, including theBosnian War (1991-1995),[64] thefamine in Somalia (1992,[65] theRwandan Genocide (1994) and the subsequentGreat Lakes refugee crisis (1994-1996) andFirst Congo War (1996-1997),[66] as well as theKosovo War (1998-1999).[67]
When theWar in Darfur began in 2003, the British Caritas memberCAFOD took the lead in coordinating the confederation's cooperation withAction by Churches Together. This joint initiative was known as the Darfur Emergency Response Operation (DERO).[68][69] Caritas Internationalis also coordinated the confederation's response after the2003 invasion of Iraq, withCaritas Iraq being one of the few humanitarian organisations operational in the country.[70]
In the wake of the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Caritas Internationalis raised aroundUS$450,000,000 for the initial emergency phase and the long-term recovery phase implemented by Caritas organisations in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries. The latter phase included construction of earthquake-resistant houses and community infrastructure, job creation, and social assistance.[71] After the2010 Haiti earthquake, Caritas Internationalis and its member organisations provided humanitarian relief and rehabilitation support to over 1.5 million Haitians, using a budget ofUS$176,000,000.[72]
When theSyrian civil war erupted in 2011,Caritas Syria,Caritas Lebanon, andCaritas Jordan were the three Caritas agencies providing the largest response in support of the internally-displaced persons and the refugees. Two years later, Caritas Internationalis member organisations responded to theWestern African Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia,[73] and whenTyphoon Haiyan devastated large parts of the country in November 2013,Caritas Philippines organised large-scale relief and reconstruction efforts andCaritas Bangladesh has been heavily involved in the support to theRohingya refugees arriving from Myanmar in 2017.Caritas Lebanon was faced with an additional emergency when the2020 Beirut explosion destroyed large parts of the city, andCaritas Congo has been a major humanitarian actor in theDemocratic Republic of Congo for decades.
Nonetheless, Caritas also continued its work as social service provider and development actor around the world. For exampleCaritas Hong Kong, greatly expanded its educational and healthcare services.[74] In Iraq,Caritas Iraq assisted more than 250,000 persons with food programmes alone and between 1995 and 2000.[75]Caritas Austria expanded its support to children, people with disabilities, refugees, the homeless, the elderly, young mothers, people suffering from addictions, and the long-term unemployed.[76]
Simultaneously, a new global crisis emerged with the spreading ofHIV/AIDS. In 1999, Caritas Internationalis signed a memorandum of understanding with theJoint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, agreeing to collaborating in raising awareness about the virus and caring for those affected.[77]
In the late 1990s, Caritas also focused onpeacebuilding, notably in Colombia whereCaritas Colombia started implementing peacebuilding projects and became involved intruth and reconciliation initiatives. In 2000, it convened the first National Congress of Reconciliation.[78]
In the 2000s, Caritas became involved in theWorld Social Forum,[79] with 450 delegates from around 40 Caritas organisations participating in thePorto Alegre summit in 2003.[80]
On 16 September 2004,Pope John Paul II granted public, juridical, andcanonical personality to Caritas Internationalis, recognizing its formal status within the Church and its ability to operate with a greater degree of autonomy and authority.[3][28] He also entrusted the task of "supervising and guiding the activity of Caritas Internationalis" to thePontifical Council Cor Unum.[28]
Caritas Internationalis launched its "HAART for Children" advocacy campaign in 2009, calling on governments and pharmaceutical companies to develop and provide child-friendly HIV andtuberculosis medicine.[77][81] In November 2012,Pope Benedict XVI published themotu proprio Intima Ecclesiae natura, which focuses on the principles and guidelines for the charitable activities of the Catholic Church, which explicitly asks of the bishops to "encourage in every parish of his territory the creation of a local Caritas service or a similar body".[82]
In May 2019, theDicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development became the new Vatican body overseeing the work of the Caritas Internationalis, following the integration of the previous oversight body, thePontifical Council Cor Unum, into the Dicastery in 2017.[83]
In November 2019, CNN reported that the Director ofCaritas Central African Republic, a Belgian Salesian priest, had been convicted in Belgium in 2012 for child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography. CNN also identified two children in the Central African Republic who were allegedly abused by the priest.[84] Following this report, the UN temporarily suspended its work with Caritas Central African Republic. Caritas Internationalis issues an apology, stating that it was "saddened and outraged" by the allegations of abuse and said it was working to improve itssafeguarding policies towards children.[85][86]
After theRussian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Caritas in Ukraine and the neighbouring countries implemented a large-scale response to support the internally displaced persons and refugees from Ukraine. In the first two years of the conflict,Caritas Ukraine andCaritas-Spes alone provided humanitarian aid to more than 3.8 million people in Ukraine.[87]
In November 2022, Pope Francis removed the secretary general and the entire leadership and governance team of Caritas Internationalis following an external investigation that uncovered significant management deficiencies impacting staff morale at the Caritas secretariat in Rome. An organisational consultant was appointed as a temporary administrator until elections were held for a new secretary-general in May 2023.[88][89][90] These elections resulted in Alistair Dutton, previously the executive director ofSCIAF (Caritas Scotland), winning the position of Secretary-General, andArchbishop of Tokyo Msgr.Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi being elected as President.[91][92][93]
Caritas Internationalis is a global confederation composed of national Caritas organisations from each country. As of 2024, the confederation has 162 members working in over 200 countries and territories. It is coordinated by a general secretariat located in thePalazzo San Callisto inRome. The members are localfaith-based organisation, usually established by theepiscopal conferences in each country, fulfilling the social mission of the Catholic Church.[71] While all member organisations are fully autonomous, they share the same mission and values. Therefore, the Caritas Internationalis secretariat does not wield direct authority over its members, such as the power to appoint or dismiss staff or impose programmes.[94] Caritas operates according to the principle ofsubsidiarity.[29] This also explains why the member organisations of Caritas Internationalis are only the national Caritas organisations. In most countries, the national Caritas is itself a federation of multiple Caritas organisations atdiocesan level, which in turn can be further subdivided into differentparish Caritas organisations.[82]
The confederation is divided into seven regions:[3]Caritas Africa (with a secretariat based inLomé, Togo),Caritas Asia (Bangkok, Thailand),Caritas Europa (Brussels, Belgium),Caritas Middle East and North Africa (Beirut, Lebanon), Caritas North America (with a decentralised secretriat),Caritas Oceania (with a decentralised secretariat), andCaritas Latin America and Caribbean (San José, Costa Rica).
Some member organisations of Caritas Internationalis focus solely on domestic social welfare, such as Caritas Moldova[95] or Caritas Singapore, while others, particularly in theWestern world, operate internationally, likeCordaid from the Netherlands orTrócaire from Ireland, which specialize in international development and humanitarian aid.Caritas Spain,Caritas Poland, andCaritas Luxembourg engage in both domestic and international activities.Caritas Australia primarily operates as an international humanitarian and development actor abroad but also supports Indigenous Australians locally,[96] whileCaritas Japan focuses mainly on domestic operations while financially assisting relief efforts of other confederation members globally.[97]
The size of Caritas organisations varies widely from small volunteer-run entities to some of the largest civil society organisations in their respective countries. For instance, AmericanCatholic Relief Services (CRS) is one of the largest international humanitarian NGOs globally, reporting a revenue of $923 million USD in 2020.[98]Caritas Germany is the largest welfare organisation and private employer in Germany, with almost 700,000 employees.[15] In the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Caritas Congo fills gaps in essential services where the State is absent and provides 41% of all education services.[99]
Many Caritas organisations engaged in international cooperation and humanitarian relief outside their home countries operate as partnership organisations, practisinglocalisation. This approach entails supporting local partners, typically local Caritas organisations, in implementing programs. Examples includeCaritas Portugal,Development and Peace (Caritas Canada), andCaritas Denmark.[100] Others, such as CRS,Caritas Czech Republic, andCaritas Switzerland, establish offices in third countries to directly manage humanitarian and development projects.[101][102]
_Headquarters_in_Tirana_2022.jpg)
The full membership list of Caritas organisations includes:[103]
The successive presidents of Caritas Internationalis have been:[32]
The incomplete list of secretaries-general of Caritas Internationalis includes:[32]
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