Officials with the foundation established by Pope John Paul II to assist the indigenous and poor farmworkers of Latin America expressed hope to expand its donor base in order to help more people.Since it was established in 1992, the Populorum Progressio Foundation has distributed grants totalling more than $24 million, almost all of which has been donated by the Italian bishops' conference and Italian Catholics.
"The foundation is reflecting on the possibility of involving benefactors from the American continent," including North America, "in order to increase and diversify its sources of income," said a July 28 press statement.
The statement was released at the Vatican after the foundation's administrative council met July 9-11 in Guadalajara, Mexico, and approved grants totaling just over $2.1 million to be distributed among 200 projects.
Msgr. Carlos Quintana Puente was invited to the meeting as a representative of the U.S. bishops' annual Collection for the Church in Latin America. With funds donated by U.S. Catholics, the collection supports more than 500 projects each year. In 2007, the U.S. collection distributed more than $7.7 million.
The Populorum Progressio Foundation, which works with the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, funds projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The July 28 press release said the rapid urbanization of Latin America and changes in local cultures and local economies have pushed most of the region's indigenous and farmworkers deeper into poverty and further to the margins of society.
Many times, it said, "they have unjustly lost ownership of their lands."
By funding projects to improve agriculture and provide access to credit, clean water, education and health care, the foundation demonstrates the church's commitment to justice and to forms of development that respect their traditional cultures, the statement said.
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