Pope Benedict XVI greeted delegates from Caritas Internationalis during his weekly General Audience, encouraging their work for the poor.

Caritas Internationalis President Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga received approved updated Statutes and Rules and a General Decree from the Cardinal Secretary of State on 2 May 2012 on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict XVI has given his seal of approval via the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to new Statutes and Rules governing Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organisation for 164 national Catholic aid and development agencies.

Caritas Internationalis fears that a full scale war is imminent between Sudan and South Sudan with dire humanitarian consequences for both unless there is pull back from further military action.

Caritas Mali says its local office in Gao in northern Mali was destroyed along with the local church after Tuareg rebels seized the city at the weekend.

Caritas has launched an emergency appeal for Senegal, the latest in the confederation’s response to the food crisis unfolding across West Africa’s Sahel belt.

A third of the population of Niger is threatened by hunger as the food crisis in West Africa’s Sahel region grows.

Caritas nutritional centres in Burkina Faso will be protecting over 21,000 under-fives from malnutrition as fears of a food crisis grow across West Africa’s Sahel region.

More women than ever before are migrating alone in search of a better life, but Caritas Internationalis says systems aren’t in place to prevent them from being exploited or abused. In a report published today, Caritas says governments and social services dealing with migration need to address migrant women’s needs.

Fears are growing over the increasingly ethnic and violent nature of the conflict in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. It’s the latest fighting in the region following independence for South Sudan last July.