Caritas is a confederation of Catholic organizations formed for the assistance in the development of the social action whose maximum expression is Caritas Internationalis with headquarters in the City of the Vatican.

The first organization “Caritas” was born in Freeburg (Germany) in 1897. Other Catholic “Charities” were started later in Switzerland (1901), Austria (1903) and the United States of America (Catholic Charities, 1910)

The necessity to work together became evident some years later. In July of 1924, during the Eucharistic World Congress, which took place in Amsterdam, with 60 delegates of 22 countries, a conference was created whose headquarters was Caritas Swiss, in Lucerne. In 1928, the Conference was known as Catholic Caritas. The delegates met every two years, until the Second World War paralyzed the activities.

The work was renewed in 1947, with the approval of the Vatican Secretary of State and, in December of 1951, in its inaugural speech, the first President of Caritas lnternationalis, Mons. Bernardino Baldelli mentioned that the initial idea of recreating this organization was owed to the initiative of the mainly then secretary of State, Mons. Giovanni Montini who later become Pablo VI.

The official name of Caritas Internationalis was adopted definitively in 1957. At the moment the confederation is one of the largest humanitarian nets in the world, with 154 members that operate in 198 countries and territories.

The Confederation of Caritas is composed of seven regions:

- Northern America
- Latin America and Caribbean
- Europe
- Middle East and Africa North (MONA)
- Africa
- Asia
- Oceania

Each region is coordinated by a Regional Conference.

Caritas lnternationalis is member of the Papal Council COR UNUM of the Organizations International Catholic (OIC) and it is credited before the UN (UNESCO, FAO, UNICEF), BIT, Council of Europe and World Bank.

Web contact
www.caritas.org

E-mail
caritas.internationalis@caritas.va