VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope Francis has suspended the secretary-general and other top officers of Caritas Internationalis, appointing a brief administrator to oversee improved management policies and to arrange for the election of recent officers in May.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, whose second term as Caritas president was to finish in May, also loses his position, although he’s to help the temporary administrator in preparing for the longer term by taking “special care of relations with the local churches and the member organizations,” said the papal decree published Nov. 22.
Caritas Internationalis is the umbrella organization for 162 official Catholic charities working in greater than 200 countries; it includes the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA, the Canadian bishops’ Development and Peace and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
Pope Francis appointed Pier Francesco Pinelli, a business management consultant, to oversee the Vatican-based offices of the overall secretariat.
“Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale.”
In an announcement also released Nov. 22, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which has some oversight responsibility for Caritas Internationalis, said the suspension of the officers “has no impact on the functioning of member organizations and the services of charity and solidarity they supply world wide; quite the opposite, it should serve to strengthen such service.”
Earlier this 12 months, the statement said, the dicastery “commissioned a review of the workplace environment of the CI General Secretariat and its alignment with Catholic values of human dignity and respect for all and sundry.”
Pinelli and two psychologists conducted the review, which included interviewing current and past employees, the dicastery said.
“No evidence emerged of economic mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other vital themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel’s work,” the statement said. “Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale.”
The announcement of the pope’s provisions got here while some 100 Caritas representatives from world wide were having a two-day meeting in Rome “to reflect on how one can strengthen local leadership throughout the confederation and enhance fraternal cooperation amongst member organizations.”
The papal decree, Cardinal Tagle said, is “a call to walk humbly with God” and be open to a technique of discernment, which incorporates acknowledging shortcomings.
In line with Vatican News, Cardinal Tagle read the papal decree to the assembly and, while acknowledging the news could upset or confuse some people, he said they ought to be reassured knowing that it got here after “a careful and independent study of the working environment of the secretariat and the governance exercised by the people and bodies in charge.”
The papal decree, he said, is “a call to walk humbly with God” and be open to a technique of discernment, which incorporates acknowledging shortcomings.
Aloysius John, the secretary-general since 2019, was not present on the meeting, Vatican News said. John, a French citizen who was born in India, had been head of the organization’s section for institutional development and capability constructing before his election as secretary-general.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Pinelli, the brand new administrator, also were present on the meeting, Vatican News reported.
Pope Francis, in his decree, said that Caritas Internationalis assists him and the bishops “within the exercise of their ministry to the poorest and most needy, participating within the management of humanitarian emergencies and collaborating within the spread of charity and justice on the planet in the sunshine of the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
“To enhance the success of this mission,” the pope said, “it seems mandatory to revise” the present regulations governing Caritas Internationalis, a task that Pinelli will guide.
Pinelli told Vatican News that his hope was “to initiate processes of reconciliation and improvement that may bear fruit in the long term for this association.”
