The New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops Conference (NZCBC) welcomed the Church’s new Te Rōpū Māori to their November meeting. The new group’s purpose is to work with the NZCBC on agenda items of importance to Katorika (Catholic) Māori. “The aim is that they provide a well-grounded voice for Katorika Māori and work in partnership with the Read more
For more than 13 years, Ursula Rakova has been battling to relocate her people from the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea, which are slowly being swamped by the sea. They don’t want to give up the way of life of generations before them, but they have no choice. More than 3000 people are stuck Read more
Ukrainian refugees, especially women and children, need to be protected from human traffickers say Catholic Church leaders. “Let us think of these women and children who in time, without work, separated from their husbands, will be sought out by the ‘vultures’ of society. Please, let us protect them,” tweeted Pope Francis. Catholic aid workers’ concerns Read more
Russia is putting humanity in danger, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, said on Tuesday. “Today all of humanity has been placed in danger — that the powerful have a right to impose themselves on whomever they wish, with no regard for the rule of law,” he said. “It is Read more
Caritas was prepared for an emergency in Tonga and is already on the ground offering assistance. Confirmation of the Catholic agency’s involvement comes from Caritas Director Julianne Hickey, and follows Saturday’s eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano. “Together (with Caritas Tonga) we have completed the pre-positioning of emergency supplies at three locations in Tonga Read more
Caritas welcomes today’s government announcement of reforms designed to “improve the natural environment, enable more development within environmental limits, provide an effective role for Mâori, and improve housing supply and affordability.” Pope Francis has said that “love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which Read more
A Catholic safe house for women in London has been partly responsible for ensuring two sex traffickers are jailed. The Catholic Diocese of Westminster’s Caritas Bakhita House enabled the traffickers’ 20-year old victim to report their crimes to the police. The traffickers were sentenced to prison terms of 15 and 16 years. Their victim’s nightmare Read more
Economic stagnation, ongoing sanctions, food shortages and reduced funding all risk making life in a post-pandemic world more dangerous and deadly than the coronavirus itself, said the Vatican-based international network of Catholic charities. “Unfortunately, the aftershock of the pandemic” is proving to be “even more complicated and more deadly than the impact of the virus Read more
The Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic will make the poor in Bangladesh even poorer, say economists. About 50 million people who live slightly above the poverty line (i.e. those earning more than US$2 a day) may fall below the line because of the pandemic. In the past, natural disasters and climate change effects were the main drivers Read more
Caritas New Zealand is shocked and deeply saddened to learn a convicted child abuser Luk Delft, (pictured), a Belgian Salesian priest, was appointed as the Country Director for Caritas Central African Republic (CAR). Caritas NZ has written to Caritas Internationalis expressing its deep concerns and asking how this was able to happen. “We have sought Read more