The General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis will take place in Rome from May 11 to 16 with the theme “Building New Paths of Fraternity”
The International Charitable Association of the Catholic Church, Caritas Internationalis (CI), will begin next Thursday, May 11, the assembly in which it must appoint the new leadership, after Pope Francis intervened and dismissed all the leaders for “deficiencies in management procedures.”
The positions to choose will be those of the president, general secretary, treasurer, among others.
“During the event, the delegates will also reflect on how Caritas organizations can work at the service of the poorest and most vulnerable, in a world affected by multiple crises: from the war in Ukraine to the covid-19 pandemic, from the consequences from climate change to rampant food insecurity,” the association explained in a note.
The assembly, which will open with a private audience with Pope Francis, will be attended by some 400 delegates representing the 162 Caritas organizations operating in 200 countries and territories around the world.
Last November, by surprise, the Pope appointed a temporary controller for this organization that deals with fighting poverty after “deficiencies in management procedures” were observed with consequences for its staff.
The Vatican Department for Integral Human Development, on which CI depends, explained that at the beginning of the year “an evaluation was commissioned regarding the work environment in the CI General Secretariat in line with the Catholic values of human dignity and respect for each person.” ».
The evaluation was carried out by a panel of independent experts, which included psychologists and from which “no evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature, but other important issues and areas of urgent attention were revealed.”
“Shortcomings were noted in management procedures, which also had a negative effect on team spirit and staff morale,” the report concluded without elaborating.
In a decree published by the Vatican, it is explained that in order to improve the fulfillment of the mission of Caritas towards the poorest and most needy, “it is necessary to review the current legal framework so that it better adapts to the statutory functions of the organization and prepare it for the elections to be held at the next General Assembly.
For this reason, this Tuesday, May 9, Pier Francesco Pinelli was appointed as extraordinary commissioner (controller) and all positions were dismissed, including the president, who was the Philippine cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
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