In Mass celebrated for the opening of Caritas’ General Assembly, Pope Francis spoke of our responsibility to look after the planet and to feed the hungry.
The Caritas Internationalis General Assembly (12-17 May) is on the theme of ‘One Human Family, Caring for Creation’. Over 300 delegates will set plans for the next 4 years aimed at improving the lives of those living in poverty and misery.
Caritas thinks ahead, helping local communities alongside displaced ones to prevent conflict beginning between the two. Caritas provides skills training, education and housing – helping people get back home together, back to working and learning.
You don’t have to go to “the peripheries”, in the words of Pope Francis, to meet victims of human trafficking, because often they are “hiding in plain sight” in our societies.
Lilian Chan, Caritas Australia Online Editor, was working in Kathmandu when the earthquake struck. She shares her experience of being thrown into a major humanitarian emergency.
Groups of locals have taken to the streets of Port Vila, Vanuatu to help clean up the neighbourhoods hardest hit by Cyclone Pam as part of Caritas relief efforts.
The leaders of Catholic agencies from around the world will be in Rome from 12 – 17 May for the 20th Caritas Internationalis General Assembly, titled “One Human Family, Caring for Creation”.
More than half the population of Vanuatu is homeless following Cyclone Pam. Caritas will provide temporary shelter with the arrival in Port Vila of 2000 tarpaulins in the next few days.
Caritas Australia and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand are leading the Caritas Internationalis response in Vanuatu with the Catholic Church after the Pacific island nation was devastated by Cyclone Pam.
Up to 90 percent of buildings on one of Vanuatu main islands have been destroyed or damaged as aid workers rush to help survivors of Cyclone Pam. Caritas has sent emergency staff to Vanuatu to link up with local church structures.