"COR UNUM" REPORT ON WORLDWIDE CHARITY ACTIVITY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today was a report from the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," the dicastery that administers papal charity, on charitable activity in the world. This includes contributions to countries affected by natural disasters and war, as well as human promotion in developing countries.

The report recalls that the Pope charged "Cor Unum" to assign funds collected on the World Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace to the most needy. The Day was held on December 14, 2001, after the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan, but offers still continue to arrive and, up to the present, 1,800,000 Euros have been collected.

In the first months of this year, "Cor Unum," as directed by the Pope, sent aid amounting to 950,000 dollars for Afghan and Iraqui refugees and for the victims of war in the Middle East. It also sent a contribution of 50,000 dollars to a hospital in New York for medical aid to victims of the terrorist attack. Last month, during his apostolic visit to Azerbaijan, the Holy Father consigned a cheque for 100,000 dollars for refugees in that country.

The dicastery that administers papal charity has assigned a total of 1,209,700 dollars for people affected by natural disasters and war, and 841,200 dollars for integral human promotion among the weakest sectors of the population in various countries.

The report further indicates that the administrative council of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, instituted by the Pope in 1984, approved financing to the value of 2,333,308 dollars for 230 projects to combat drought and desertification in countries of sub-Saharan Africa and to form specialists in that field.

Finally, the report concludes, the administrative council of the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation, established by the Pope in 1992 to favor the integral human promotion of poor indigenous, mixed race and Afro-American rural peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean, examined 294 projects and decided to finance 216 for a total amount of 1,773,700 dollars.

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