Rome under the sign of Caritas
General Assembly, European conference and audience with Pope Francis.
May was marked by the main international meetings of the global and European Caritas network in Rome with the election of the leadership. Caritas-Spes Ukraine was a participant, and the war in our country was on the agenda. According to Father Vyacheslav Grynevych SAC, Secretary General of our organization, the meetings were held in a family atmosphere, full of spiritual closeness and everyone made it clear that "we will not leave you." The president of the Mission, Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskyi, noted that the word Ukraine could be heard not only every day, but every hour, and the Caritas Family never tires of expressing solidarity with our country.
A series of events in Rome began on May 10 with the opening of the annual Caritas Europe Regional Conference. On our continent, this is the main body of the network with 49 members from 46 countries.
This year Caritas Europe celebrates its 30th anniversary. Since 1993, the organization has been providing coordinated humanitarian aid and actively fighting poverty, social exclusion and the causes that lead to them. Its activities have spanned the period from the Balkan wars to Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The main news of the European forum was the reappointment of the organization's leaders - Secretary General Maria Nyman and President Michael Landau. The regional conference also brought changes to the Caritas Europe Executive Board, whose members began their four-year mandate. Ms. Tetiana Stavnycha, President of Caritas Ukraine, remains a member of the Board and Vice President of the organization.
Among other things, European Caritas showed its sincere support for the mission of the confederation at the global level. This support was clearly felt at the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis, which opened in Rome a few days later, on May 15.
The Caritas Internationalis network has been in existence since 1951, caring for the disadvantaged and desperate around the world. Its main forum brought together 400 representatives of 162 organizations from 200 countries on all continents. Among the participants were the heads of Caritas-Spes Ukraine and Caritas Ukraine.
"I recommend unity," Pope Francis said in his address to the General Assembly. "Your confederation encompasses many different identities. Treat diversity as a treasure, pluralism as a resource. Strive to show respect for each other, and let conflicts lead not to division, but to meeting and growth."
The Holy Father had an audience with the participants of the global Caritas meeting. Among his messages was the following: "Love encourages us to open our eyes, to widen our gaze, it enables us to recognize the face of a brother in a stranger on our way with a name, a story, a drama, to whom we cannot remain indifferent. In the light of God's love, the face of the other comes out of shadow, out of insignificance, and acquires value and relevance. The poverty of others raises questions for us, makes us uncomfortable, and provokes us to take responsibility. And it is always in the light of love that we find the strength and courage to respond to the evil oppressing others, to respond in the first person, having rolled up our sleeves and putting our soul and heart into it."
Furthermore, the Pope emphasized that the task of Caritas Internationalis is to proclaim the Gospel through good deeds in cooperation with the Universal Church: "Be missionary disciples, follow Christ!" Another task is to accompany local churches, taking care of the training of competent people who are able to introduce the message of the Church into political and social life.
One of the main events of the General Assembly was the election of His Eminence Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, Head of the Bishops' Conference of Japan and Secretary General of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, as President of Caritas Internationalis. He will lead the organization for the next four years.
The topic of the dramatic and tragic situation in our country was vivid in the agenda. In particular, the war in Ukraine and the humanitarian challenges it poses to Europe in the twenty-first century were mentioned in the closing message of the General Assembly as one of the biggest crises in the world that Caritas has to deal with.
Father Vyacheslav Grynevych SAC, a participant in the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis and Secretary General of Caritas-Spes Ukraine, summarized the participation of the Ukrainian delegation as follows: "It was a family meeting of the entire network. The Pope addressed us with words of support and blessing. We met with our partners, who emphasized their readiness to continue to help, to be there for us, to support us, and this is very inspiring. For my part, I delivered a speech on the role of women in the humanitarian crisis and spoke about the situation of women in Ukraine. I had the opportunity to share our successes in implementing Caritas Internationalis standards - we received approval, which was confirmed by a symbolic gift to the Ukrainian delegation."
For more than 70 years Caritas Internationalis has been renowned for its ability to adapt its noble mission to the changing challenges of our time. "Today, we are called to adapt and identify new ways of fraternity and cooperation to better serve the poor and most vulnerable..." lines from the final address. "The 22nd General Assembly brought together Caritas members and our valued partners from all seven regions of the world to strengthen the confederation, to hear each other and to fulfill the mission of serving the poor and threatened… We need to make a fundamental shift from "they and we" to "we together," emphasizing the importance of cooperation and unity in achieving our goals. We leave Rome with a heart full of hope for the future of our confederation - a future of unity in diversity and fraternal cooperation."
