(Vatican Radio) ‘One Human Family, Caring for Creation’ – that’s the theme of the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly which kicked off Tuesday in Rome. A press conference introducing the works of the 12-17 May Assembly was held in the Vatican Press Office. Pope Francis was to officially open the Assembly with a special Mass Tuesday evening at 5:30 pm local time in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Click here to follow the Mass live . Over the next five days, more than 300 delegates from around the world will lay out plans for the coming four years, aimed at improving the lives of those living in poverty and misery.
“Pope Francis has asked us to go to the ‘peripheries’ to help those in need,” said Caritas Internationalis President Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga. “During the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly, the peripheries will come to Rome to seek better ways to improve our service to the most vulnerable”.
Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga will officially open the event on 13 May at Domus Mariae Church Palace Hotel.
Guest speakers will include Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; theologian Fr Gustavo Gutierrez O.P; economist Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Dr Jacques Diouf, Special Envoy for the Sahel and the Horn of Africa; and Beverly Haddad from the University of Kwazulu-Natal.
Some fifty young people, volunteers, grassroots communities and campaigners against hunger will also be present.
“Inequality, migration, climate change, conflict, and the scandal of hunger are challenges facing Caritas and its mission to promote development and justice,” said Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis. “There are major opportunities coming up to work towards this goal, such as a new papal encyclical on human ecology, the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals and the COP 21 climate meeting in Paris”.
Key leadership roles will also be up for election. Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga will step down as president after eight years. Candidates for president are Archbishop Youssef Soueif , president of Caritas Cyprus and Cardinal Luis Tagle, Archbishop of Manila. Elections for the leadership will take place on 14 May.
After the General Assembly, Caritas delegates will go to the EXPO 2015 in Milan for an official EXPO Caritas Day on 19 May. The event is part of Caritas’ campaign ‘One Human Family, Food for All’ which aims to end hunger by 2025.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Michel Roy described the General Assembly as a unique moment to “celebrate who we are and what we do.” Mr Roy said that Caritas had prepared a 5 point strategic framework that would be discussed over the course of the meeting.
Michel Roy also explained that there will be a “new governance coming out of this Assembly” A new President of Caritas Internationalis will be elected as Cardinal Maradiaga will have completed the maximum two terms at the helm of the organization.
Listen to Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis:
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) ‘One Human Family, Caring for Creation’ – that’s the theme of the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly which kicked off Tuesday in Rome. A press conference introducing the works of the 12-17 May Assembly was held in the Vatican Press Office. Pope Francis was to officially open the Assembly with a special Mass Tuesday evening…
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(Vatican Radio) A Press Conference was held at the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday to present details the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly which runs from the 12-17 May in Rome and is held every four years.
The theme for the event is ‘One Human Family, Caring for Creation’ and it brings together over 300 delegates from around the world who will discuss plans for the next 4 years that will entail helping the most vulnerable.
Attending the briefing on Tuesday was the President of Caritas Internationalis, Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, Michel Roy, the organistion’s Secretary General, Teologian, Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P., and Haridas Varikottil, an expert in Agriculture from Caritas India.
Listen to Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis
During his intervention to journalists, Michel Roy described the Assembly as a unique moment to “celebrate who we are and what we do.” Mr Roy said that Caritas had prepared a 5 point strategic framework that would be discussed over the course of the meeting. The 5 strategic orientations he spoke of are:
“ To help the Church to be a poor Church for the poor.”
The work of Caritas will continue to respond to major emergencies.
Promoting integral human development.
To strengthen global solidarity.
To strengthen and developed the capacity of the weakest or more vulnerable members of the Caritas Internationalis network.
Over the course of the Assembly there will be a number of guest speakers including Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who will speak on the subject of climate change.
Michel Roy also explained that there will be a “new governance coming out of this Assembly” A new President of Caritas Internationalis will be elected as Cardinal Maradiaga will have completed the maximum two terms at the helm of the organization.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A Press Conference was held at the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday to present details the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly which runs from the 12-17 May in Rome and is held every four years. The theme for the event is ‘One Human Family, Caring for Creation’ and it brings together over 300…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences is having its 4th meeting of bishops and delegates in charge of relations with Muslims in Europe. The meeting is being held at the Abbey of Saint Maurice in Switzerland this week and will last for three days. Two key areas which will be covered are dialogue between Christians and Muslims, along with sociological realities.
The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences has released the announcement reprinted below regarding the meeting.
How Muslims in Europe Change
4th Meeting of bishops and delegates in charge of relationships with Muslims in Europe, Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, 13-15 May 2015
Is there a radicalisation of Muslims in Europe? And how is this issue tackled within the Muslim communities? How is it possible to promote a culture of dialogue between Christians and Muslims? In other words, what is the cultural and religious vitality of the Muslims on the continent? These are some of the issues which will be discussed by the bishops and delegates from Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences in charge of relations with Muslims.
In the Abbey of Saint-Maurice (Switzerland), the oldest Western monastery still functioning, boasting an uninterrupted presence since 515, about forty experts in dialogue with Muslims in Europe will be guided in their work by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and former CCEE Vice-President (2006-2011), and with the participation, too, of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
The meeting, promoted by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), is taking place in the Canton of Valais at the invitation of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference and its General Secretary, Dr. Erwin Tanner.
The speakers guiding the reflections include Prof. Olivier Roy from the European University Institute in Florence; Dr. Omero Marongiu-Perria, an expert in the sociology of religions and member of CISMOC (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Islam in the Contemporary World – University of Louvain, Belgium); Bishops Michel Dubost (France), Juan Antonio Martínez Camino (Spain) and Charles Morerod (Switzerland), who will speak about the vision of dialogue with Muslims in their respective countries. The reflections will then be completed by a series of practical experiences of dialogue, such as that of Fr. Christophe Roucou, talking about the French experience of dialogue between priests and imams; that of Helmut Wiesmann, talking about the German experience of co-operation in charitable work; and finally the experience of Bishop Pero Sudar in the areas of formation and education in Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina).
The meeting will end on the morning of Friday 15 May with an open debate about the results of a questionnaire on some sensitive aspects of the dialogue in the different countries which will be presented by Don Andrea Pacini, CCEE Co-ordinator for this network and Secretary of the Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious dialogue of the Piemonte-Valle d’Aosta regional Bishops’ Conference, followed by concluding remarks from Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard.
(from Vatican Radio)…