Vatican City, 10 June 2014 (VIS) –
The managing board of the Foundation “Populorum Progressio” for
Latin America, which upon its institution in 1992 was entrusted by
St. John Paul II to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, will hold
its annual meeting in the Vatican from 10 to 14 July.
The members of the board are Cardinal
Robert Sarah, president ex officio of the Foundation; Archbishop
Edmundo Luis Flavio Abastoflor Montero of La Paz, Bolivia, president
of the managing board; Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil,
Ecuador, vice-president; Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez,
archbishop of Santo Domingo; and Archbishop Oscar Urbina Ortega of
Villavicencio, Colombia; Archbishop Murilo Sebastiao Ramos Krieger of
Sao Salvador de Bahia, Brazil; Archbishop Javier Augusto de Rio Alba
of Arequipa, Peru, and Msgr. Segundo Tejada Munoz, representative of
the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”.
During the meeting the members of the
managing board discussed the financing of projects to assist
indigenous, mestizo, Afro-American and peasant populations in Latin
America and the Caribbean. The meeting will offer an opportunity for
reflection, taking as a starting point the directions given by the
Holy Father, on the most effective ways of providing the service of
charity of a “poor Church for the poor”, who fulfils her mission
in the human and existential peripheries, and with particular
attention to those most in need.
So far approximately four thousand
projects have been carried out by the Foundation, funded by a total
of more than 35 million dollars. They are all characterised by a
participatory approach involving local communities and are directed
at various sectors, including agriculture and animal husbandry,
crafts and cottage industries, infrastructure for drinking water,
training and provision for schools, health care, and construction.
