International Charity is the umbrella organization of the Catholic Church, which coordinates the work of a total of 162 Catholic charitable organizations in more than 200 countries of the world, and
They have more than half a million employees and volunteers around the world.
According to Reuters, Pope Francis has now decided to dismiss the entire Caritas administration after suspicions arose at the organization’s headquarters in Rome that staff had been humiliated and harassed. A former employee said that many current and former Caritas employees spoke to the news agency about this, for example: workers at the Caritas center lived in harassment and fear and suffered “ritual humiliation”.
In the papal decree published on Tuesday, the head of the church handed over the administration of Caritas to the regent. At the same time, the Vatican Department of Development (to which Caritas belongs) announced that this year a thorough investigation was carried out in the center of Caritas, with the participation of external company management and psychological experts.
In the investigation, they came to the conclusion that the above reports have a real basis.
In their statement, they wrote: There is no evidence of financial abuse or sexual harassment, but they identified several cases that “require immediate action.” According to their statement, these errors occurred mainly in the field of company management and procedures, and negatively affected the team spirit and morale of the employees’ work.
After the papal decision, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, often referred to in the press as “Francis of Asia”, resigned. However, Tagle would retain his principal ecclesiastical position and remain head of the missionary department within the Catholic Church, responsible for the administration of missions.
The Reuters He also noted that, with the exception of a cardinal and another priest, all the leaders of Caritas International are non-priests.
(Cover photo: Pope Francis on November 16, 2022. Photo: Franco Aurelia/Getty Images)
