Vatican City, May 2, 2012 / 16:03 pm
Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Church’s confederation of charitable and development agencies, will become more accountable to the Vatican under new guidelines published May 2.
Monsignor Osvaldo Neves de Almeida, an official with the Vatican Secretariat of State, said in the official explanatory note for the rules that the Holy See will follow Caritas’ activity and exercise vigilance over it so that “both its humanitarian and charitable action and the content of the documents that it disseminates may be in harmony with the Apostolic See and with the Church’s Magisterium.”
The new statutes and rules, set out in today’s “General Decree,” will enable the Vatican to increase its oversight of the operations, finances and staffing of Caritas. Senior officials in the organization will also have to promise loyalty to the teachings of the Church.
The overhaul was prompted by fears that the charitable body was losing its Catholic identity, a concern repeatedly expressed at the confederation’s General Assembly in Rome last May by several high-ranking Vatican figures, including Pope Benedict XVI.
“On that occasion, the Holy Father recalled that Caritas Internationalis cannot be assimilated into the major Non-Governmental Organizations, even though it carries out with exemplary professionalism and competence, roles that they too fulfill,” said Msgr. Neves.