By Matters India Reporter
Rome, May 25, 2019: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines has been re-elected the president of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of Catholic charities around world.
Cardinal Tagle, who is also the archbishop of Manila was confirmed for a second four-year-term at the Caritas general assembly in Rome on May 24, reports the website of the Philippines bishops’ conference.
The meeting, which is held every four years, brought together some 450 delegates of the confederation formed by 165 organizations.
The general assembly from May 23 to 28 is underway to discuss the theme “A human family, a common home,” inspired by the encyclical “Laudato Si.”
Tagle was first elected to head Caritas in 2015, making him the first president from Asia.
Caritas Internationalis is said to be the world’s biggest network of aid organizations next to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The 118-year-old group includes 164 national aid organizations, including one in India. Caritas – the Latin word for charity – aims to help the poor and promote social justice.
“The large number of displaced, the proliferation of conflicts and environmental disaster, increasingly evident, threaten to overwhelm us, unless together we act urgently against these problems as a single human family with a common house,” said the cardinal.