Vatican City, 14 June 2014 (VIS) –
From 11 to 13 June, at the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, the
managing board of the Populorum Progressio Foundation held its annual
meeting. This year it was held in Rome, primarily to ask Pope Francis
for guidance in planning the future of the Foundation after 22 years
of work, in the light of his pastoral experience in Latin America.
Of the 135 projects presented in 2014
for the various ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Latin America and the
Caribbean, 125 were approved, in conformity with the criteria of the
Populorum Progressio, with a total value of 1,800,000 dollars. The
majority were initiatives connected to children and young people. In
this way, the Foundation will be able to support small communities in
their projects for development and human advancement. They are
primarily micro-projects in various fields: not only education, but
also the creation of wells for drinking water, the institution of
revolving funds and seed banks, the construction of community halls,
the funding of healthcare projects, and so on.
On Friday Pope Francis received in
audience the members of the managing board. During 40 minutes the
prelates spoke with him on matters linked to the Latin American
continent, taking into account the activity carried out by this
Foundation. The Holy Father affirmed, first of all, that Catholic
institutions are not NGOs and that they must put into action an
anthropology that does not see the person solely as “a mouth to
feed”, but must also take into consideration the spiritual
dimension, and the yearning for God that every person holds in his
heart.
Secondly, the issue of indigenous
populations was discussed, and the question of evangelisation and its
relationship to charitable works in the context of the works of
corporal mercy that cannot be separated from spiritual works. The
Holy Father also commented on the ideology centred on the “god of
money”, leading to the rejection of two categories of person:
children, the future of society, and the elderly, who are its
historical memory. He also underlined the dramatic problem of youth
unemployment, which leads generations of young people without a
future, easy prey to addiction and criminality. Francis asked the
Populorum Progressio to pay attention to this sector of the
population through projects for education and professional training.
The dialogue was frank, open and constructive.
Holding the meeting in Rome made it
possible for the managing board to consult with entities such as the
Pontifical Commission for Latin America, whose secretary Guzamn
Carriquiry Lecour spoke upon request by Cardinal Marc Ouellet,
P.S.S., president of the Commission, during the round table of the
first day of the meeting. A very fruitful exchange took place
regarding the theme of indigenism and the question of formation. It
is also worth noting that the Foundation has undertaken a
collaborative project with the Catholic University San Antonio de
Murcia to establish training courses for agents of pastoral care,
often directly responsible to the Foundation's projects in the same
area.
The Foundation must face the great
challenge of enlarging the geographical horizons of its donations,
with the aim of ensuring that all the projects presented may be
accepted by the Pope's charity. In this regard, the members of the
Foundation were given the aim of increasing awareness among the
particular Churches and persons of good will so that the funds
available will allow this this work, so greatly appreciated by the
Holy Father, to continue with ever greater intensity.
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