Following public declarations from the outgoing secretary general of
Caritas that could cause serious damage to the “prestige” of the
institution, the Holy See has confirmed that it is seeking a "new
profile" for the international aid agency.
In January, the Vatican's Secretariat of State decided it would not
allow Lesley-Anne Knight to run for a second four-year term as secretary
general of the Rome-based Caritas Internationalis.
Her request for a
certificate of approval from the Vatican for official candidacy was
declined.
The rare action was taken because “for today's new challenges we need
someone else,” explained Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Pontifical
Council “Cor Unum” on Feb. 22.
A key issue at this point is to focus on
the “Catholic identity” of the organization, he said.
Cor Unum supervises the activities of Caritas Internationalis as well as many other charitable activities worldwide.
The council's “second-in-command,” secretary Msgr. Giampietro Dal
Toso, explained in a March 7 interview that the Caritas confederation
entrusts the approval of its top decision-makers to the Holy See in its
statutes.
This year, after "much reflection" between the Secretariat of State
and Cor Unum, “it was considered opportune to seek another profile for
the next four years,” said Msgr. Dal Toso.
“In no way was this meant to take from the work accomplished by Mrs. Knight,” he asserted.
Approval is granted by the Holy See “to provide a necessary
instrument in order that those ultimately responsible for an
organization may address in the most convenient way those decisions to
be taken, for the good of the organization itself,” said Msgr. Dal Toso.
“The next four years envisage Caritas Internationalis engaged in
important themes concerning its mission, including the revision of its
statutes and internal reform,” he explained.
In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter published on
March 2, Knight suggested that the Holy See was out of touch with
Caritas and blasted its plan to modify practices in place in favor of a
greater emphasis on evangelization.
She criticized the “minimal” level of contact from upper-level
Vatican officials and that “information flow tends to be one-way”--from
the Church hierarchy to Caritas.
She asked, “does the Holy See actually
know what Caritas is doing?”
Knight claimed a disconnect with “what it means to be in
international development and humanitarian aid.”
She suggested that the
Vatican works too slowly for the high-speed environment and asked,
“given the wide range of sensitive situations in which we work, how do
we express that evangelization in a way that the Holy See is comfortable
with?”
With a greater focus on evangelization, the outgoing secretary
general said that some member organizations “might want to distance
themselves from Caritas.”
“That could seriously damage our confederation,” she said.
Msgr. Dal Toso responded that for Caritas, “looking towards the
future” should mean not being afraid of a renewal of the “various
responsibilities and the approval of the new statutes through a wider
consensus.”
This work, he said, means engaging in “authentic dialogue with the opportune bodies.”
“On the other hand,” he said, “her declarations on the lack of
communion with the Holy See might seriously damage the prestige of
Caritas Internationalis, especially among the faithful.”
In terms of Knight's method, he said, using the media to discuss
questions “related to matters of the governance of Caritas
Internationalis does not seem to me the best way to treat the various
positions.
“This is one-way communication – not dialogue,” said Msgr. Dal Toso.
He said that channels for communication are in place to offer
opinions.
The physical proximity of Caritas' headquarters to the
Vatican, the presence of Cor Unum representatives at the agency's
meetings and the fact that the confederation's president is a cardinal
provide opportunities to voice concerns, he explained.
“The channels for discussion are not lacking, nor our willingness to dialogue, as Caritas Internationalis knows very well.”