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.
This was the culmination of a process that started in 2004 when Pope John Paul II gave Caritas Internationalis a ‘public juridical’ personality, making it an entity of the Holy See.
This outcome was expected and Caritas Internationalis welcomes this important time in its history.
The mission of Caritas is confirmed as part of the institutional church, embodying both its role as a confederation of 164 members and an entity of the Holy See.
Caritas Internationalis new governing bodies, the Representative Council and Executive Board, will meet 15-17 May in Rome as planned. (Under the new Statutes and Rules, the Representative Council replaces the Executive Committee and the Bureau becomes the Executive Board.)
The new Statutes and Rules of Caritas Internationalis have some significant changes to a draft Statutes and Rules approved by the Caritas Internationalis Executive Committee in November 2011 and sent to the Holy See for papal approval.
The Representative Council meeting will study the changes in relation to those voted by the Caritas Executive Committee and their application.
Caritas Internationalis is confident in the future. Its mission to fight against poverty and promote social justice has been renewed as a service of the Catholic Church, and after several years of work on the renovation of its statutes, all its efforts will now be focused on this mission.
Please call Patrick Nicholson +39 06 698 79 725 or +39 334 359 0700 or email [email protected] with any requests.