Caritas Italy celebrates 40 years of work for the poor

Msgr.Giovanni Nervo, founding president of Caritas Italy, with Pope Paolo VI Credits: Caritas Italia

Msgr.Giovanni Nervo, founding president of Caritas Italy, with Pope Paolo VI
Credits: Caritas Italia

Caritas Italy today begins celebrations to mark 40 years of offering support and services to the poor.

Founded by Pope Paul VI in July 1971, Caritas Italy (known locally as Caritas Italiana) brings together 220 diocesan Caritas to offer charitable acts both home and abroad.

“Caritas Italiana has been unfailing in its dedication to the poor and disadvantaged both in Italy and also in neglected parts of the world for 40 years. We wish it many more years of service and congratulate it on being a living example of solidarity,” said Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis.

A press conference will be held Friday 1 July at Caritas Italy’s Rome headquarters entitled “Exploring memory, loyalty and prophecy”. It will be followed by a round table, “Forty years of Caritas Italiana and the image of the Church”.

In 2010 Caritas Italy spent over 44 million euro on activities domestically and worldwide. It contributed to emergencies including the Haiti earthquake and reconstruction following the earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy in 2009. It also invested in health, micro-financing and socio-economic projects abroad.

A major focus for Caritas Italy is immigration. It is currently fundraising for diocesan Caritas in southern Italy who are often the first stop for increasing numbers of immigrants arriving from North Africa.

Every year it publishes a highly-respected immigration dossier which charts the trends and highlights changes in domestic and global immigration.

Please call Michelle Hough on +39 06 69879721 or +39 334 2344136 or hough@caritas.va with any requests.

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