PAPAL CHARITIES DISTRIBUTED $21.5 MILLION IN 1998

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 1999 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," the Holy See office responsible for organizing, collecting and distributing financial assistance to the needy in the Pope's name, said in its just-released report for 1998, that this aid last year totalled $21.5 million.

These monies, said the detailed report, were earmarked "to ease the suffering in countries struck by calamities, to sustain programs of ecclesial works for the human and Christian promotion of persons and communities in developing countries and to revitalize the theological virtue of charity through spiritual and corporal works of mercy."

Cor Unum held its plenary assembly in November 1998 on the theme "Towards the Great Jubilee - 1999: Father of Love." The council had decided earlier that its priority during this final year of immediate preparation for the 2000 Jubilee would be to accent the virtue of charity, and to this end has focussed its work on four initiatives.

The first initiative, called "The 100 Projects of the Holy Father," was extended to include 223 projects on all continents, for which a total of $20 million was raised. The second initiative, "Panis caritatis," was launched within Italy to sensitize people to the problems of poverty and hunger, through the sale of specially-shaped loaves of bread, a part of whose sale is given to a papal charity. So far $300,000 has been raised.

The last two council initiatives are, respectively, the publication of the Holy Father's 1999 Lenten Message and the organization of the May 12-15 International Congress on Charity in Rome.

About $1 million in aid was given to other Cor Unum projects, not listed above, including assistance to refugees and to victims of drought, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and floods. It also includes monies for "human and Christian promotion" in the fields of liturgy, education, youth formation, medicine, aid to migrants, assistance for the ill and handicapped and to families in difficulty.

"Such aid was possible," the account underlines, "thanks to the generous collaboration of dioceses, religious congregations, aid organizations, volunteer associations and movements and individuals from every part of the world who, in communion with the Holy Father, ... have given concrete witness to the God the Father's love for mankind."

The Cor Unum report highlighted the "dramatic consequences" caused last year by Hurricane Mitch in four countries of Central America - Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. It recalled that John Paul II had sent council president, Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, as his envoy in solidarity with a check for $170,000 to assist those in need. The report added that "the response of solidarity and sharing by Catholics was remarkable. In barely two weeks the aid sent by Caritas Spain, the coordinating center, had reached the considerable sum of $50 million."

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