Caritas Hong Kong was founded in July 1953 by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. The primary purpose of its establishment was to offer relief and rehabilitation services to the poor and the distressed, with the aim of addressing some of the social hardships and inequalities in Hong Kong resulting from the Second World War and subsequent social and political changes in the People’s Republic of China at the time.

Caritas Hong Kong is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a federation of 162 Caritas organizations operating in 200 countries throughout the world.

Vision
To create truly human communities with a spirit of compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation and solidarity. It is essentially a movement of mutual understanding and concern, of caring and service.

Mission
The motto of Caritas “Love in the Service of Hope” encapsulates the core of its mission, which is expressed as follows: 

• To help the underprivileged and the vulnerable
• To encourage people to actualize their potential
• To promote mutual understanding and reconciliation
• To nurture a spirit of reciprocity to the community from which the people have benefited

Today the agency is involved in various activities in the following areas:

• Social Work: Services are provided for the disadvantaged in our community, ranging from children, young people, to frail elderly as well as for special needs groups such as children with learning difficulties, youth at risk, low income families, new arrivals, the unemployed, the disabled, mentally ill, drug addicts, and addicted gamblers, ethnic minority groups and refugees.
• Education: Includes pre-school education to provide a pleasant learning environment for young children below the age of seven; secondary level education with a curriculum comprising general, academic and applied learning subjects for students who completed primary schooling; apprentice training in car mechanics and printing; community and higher education promoting lifelong learning for those in need to better equip themselves in work skill, personal development and academic attainment; special education for students with intellectual disabilities and behavioral/emotional difficulties.
• Medical: Includes three medical clinics and three hospitals. The three hospitals respectively are Canossa Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre (taken over by Hospital Authority since 1992) and Precious Blood Hospital.
• Community and other services: Includes Camp Service, Mainland Services, Local Services which provide support to other Caritas units to further meet the needs of local communities and Hospitality Services which oversee the catering service, hostel service and lodge service.