Caritas Italy is a pastoral organ of the Italian Bishops’ Conference that has been tasked with the promotion of charity. It was founded in 1971 by Monsignor Giovanni Nervo with the support of Pope Paul VI. Its main purpose, as specified in article 1 of its statute, is providing a “testimony of charity in the Italian ecclesial community ... in view of the integral development of man, social justice, and peace, with particular attention to the least and having at its core a pedagogical function.” This mandate is accomplished through the implementation of the following tasks:
a) collaborating with the bishops to promote a sense of charity toward people and communities in situations of difficulty that are present in particular churches;
b) coordinating Christian-inspired charitable and welfare initiatives;
c) announcing, organizing, and coordinating emergency interventions in the event of public disasters occurring both in Italy and abroad;
d) collaborating with other Christian-inspired bodies:
- to carry out studies and research on failures to meet human needs in order to discover their causes and to prepare both curative and preventative intervention plans within a framework of unitary pastoral planning, and in order to stimulate the actions of civil institutions and adequate legislation;
- to promote volunteering and the training of pastoral workers and Christian-inspired staff involved in charitable works, and the work of professionals and volunteers engaged in public or private social services or in activities promoting human welfare;
- to contribute to the human and social development of developing countries by raising public awareness, providing services and economic aid, and coordinating the initiatives of various Christian-inspired groups and movements.
Caritas Italy is chaired by a bishop of an Italian diocese and is elected by the Italian Bishops’ Conference. The bishop is assisted by a presidential council and a national council. It is organized on a diocesan basis:
- Each diocese has created a diocesan Caritas unit that is presided over by the bishop of the diocese and directed by a priest or layperson in collaboration with other diocesan Caritas units and Caritas Italy. Diocesan Caritas coordinates the charitable activities within its diocese.
- Forty-five diocesan Caritas units participated in the work in Ethiopia following from the first protocol of Humanitarian Corridors.
