This "complete and definitive" closure was announced in a communiqué from the Archdiocese of Algiers, signed by Archbishop Paul Desfarges, Emeritus of Algiers and President of the Algerian Diocesan Association.

The announcement states that the measure was taken at the request of the Algerian authorities.

"Of course," the text says, "the Catholic Church remains true to its charitable mission at the service of brotherhood," namely "in connection with all people of good will".

The Caritas announcement did not elaborate on the reasons for the shutdown.

Local church sources told the Fides news agency that the government's move was not aimed specifically at Catholic charities, but part of a general policy of restricting all foreign relief organisations.

Interior Ministry communications made general references to the fact that the Catholic Church was allegedly "covering" an unauthorised organisation engaged in "illegal" activities. But they gave no specific references to any articles of the law allegedly violated.

However, representatives of the local Catholic community rule out that the measures imposed by the Algerian authorities are fuelled by feelings of hostility towards the Catholic Church and its presence in the country.

Rather, they see a connection with the general policy of restrictions that have recently been imposed on foreign and multinational NGOs.

Caritas Algeria was established on 28 June 1962, a few days after Algeria declared independence from France, and is closing after 60 years. The organisation had been providing humanitarian aid to the poor and to migrants in a country that is 97% Muslim.

"I would like to thank all those who, over the years and in different ways, have contributed to the realisation of this work at the service of the most vulnerable and the Algerian people," concludes the Archbishop Emeritus of Algiers, signing off the communiqué.

Sources

Agenzia Fides

Caritas Algeria

Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, during his homily, likened the Algerian Church with the Gospel episode of the Wedding at Cana. He said that the Catholic Church and the Algerian people are in a way "a marriage, an alliance".

"We share the joy and the sorrows of the citizens of this country, and we want to be a fully citizen Church which does not claim any right except that of being able to exercise its duties and its responsibility as a citizen," said the newly installed archbishop said, Fides reported.

"It is the particular colour of the evangelical witness of our Church.

"It is a unique colour that also espouses the discretion used by Jesus himself at the wedding at Cana, when, as a guest, he does not take centre stage and delicately performs a miracle which already announces, through this water transformed into wine, the gift of one's own blood for the salvation of the world as we will remember during the Eucharist," Archbishop Vesco explained.

"Nobody knows of the existence of this gesture which rejoices the hearts of all and saves the honour of the groom, except of course the employees who serve the table.

"Our Church in Algeria also wants to be discreet, not by calculation or by strategy, nor even by obligation. She wants to be discreet, not in the sense of being erased, timorous, fearful. She wants to be discreet in the sense that we say of a person who respects the privacy and the faith of others that she is discreet," Archbishop Vesco said

"This is the reason why our Church, in its essence, is not and cannot be a proselytiser. In the cordiality at the wedding in Cana, said the new archbishop, we can also hear joviality, which sounds like joy, like happiness to be together, not only as a duty to be together," he said adding that it will undoubtedly happen when "we transform water into good Algerian wine."

"We Christians weigh almost nothing here, and our existence is constantly threatened. If fraternity can occur, it is only on the basis of prevention - that makes it all the more precious!"

Sources

La Croix International

Paudal