Caritas Philippines has welcomed the election of Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo as the new president of Caritas Internationalis, a Vatican-based confederation of more than 160 Catholic charities around the world.
Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, president of Caritas Philippines, said Kikuchi’s election “reaffirms our commitment to prioritizing the needs of the marginalized.”
“We believe his leadership will further strengthen our collective efforts to uplift the lives of those in need,” said Bagaforo, who is currently in Rome for the confederation’s 22nd general assembly.
“We look forward to working closely with him to advance social justice and integral human development,” he said.
More than 400 delegates taking part in the assembly elected Kikuchi, who is also the current secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, on May 13 to serve a four-year term.
Replacing Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the former archbishop of Manila who has been leading the Dicastery for Evangelization since 2019, Kikuchi is the second president of Caritas Internationalis from Asia.
The new leader has been associated with Caritas since 1995, starting as a volunteer in the Refugees’ Camp in Bukavu, Zaire.
The assembly on May 15 also elected Kirsty Robertson as the new vice president of Caritas Internationalis and Alistair Dutton as the new secretary general for a mandate of four years.
Robertson has been the CEO of Caritas Australia since 2019. She previously held various positions at Caritas Australia, including Pacific Programs Coordinator and Communications Group Leader.
She was also CEO at Mary MacKillop Today and held numerous leadership roles in other faith-based aid and development organizations.
Currently Executive Director of SCIAF (Caritas Scotland), Dutton has more than 25 years of experience in the humanitarian field, has led projects in more than 70 countries and first worked with Caritas in 1996.
From 2009 to 2014, he served as the Humanitarian Director of Caritas Internationalis.
In 2014, Dutton was also the CEO of the Sphere Project, the international humanitarian standards body. From 2005 to 2009 he was head of the Humanitarian Programmes Unit for Africa of Christian Aid.
Look to the future
The new head of Caritas Internationalis said that the Vatican’s preeminent charity would look to the future of its global aid mission, seeking to close out a tumultuous period that prompted Pope Francis to oust the previous leadership team.
It was the first general assembly since Francis in November removed the Caritas president, vice presidents, secretary general, treasurer and ecclesiastic assistant after an outside investigation into bullying complaints found management problems at the Rome headquarters.
Dutton acknowledged the chapter representatives had questions about the pope’s unusual intervention and that he himself feared walking into an assembly “where people were angry and frustrated and were looking backwards.”
But he said the spirit of the meeting was instead one of a family looking to learn from the past and move forward.
“I know the past is there, but we really haven’t dwelt on it,” Dutton told reporters. “We’ve been trying to look now to the future.”
Dutton, a British former Jesuit novice, spoke alongside Archbishop Kikuchi, new treasurer Patrick De Bucquois of Belgium and Robertson, the organization’s first woman vice president.
Robertson said it was particularly significant for a woman to hold the position that represents Caritas in official, Catholic Church events that are often dominated by male clerics.
“The face of poverty is the face of a woman,” she told reporters. “Therefore, it is only right and just, I think, to see the face of women at all levels in our confederation.”
Dutton replaces Aloysius John, a French citizen of Indian descent who was ousted in November after the staff at the Caritas headquarters complained of a toxic work environment.
On the eve of the general assembly, John accused the Vatican of staging a “brutal power grab” fueled by a “colonialist” attitude of northern, wealthy Caritas chapters over poorer ones in the developing world.
Caritas Asia reelects president for a second 4-year term
Meanwhile, Caritas Asia, one of seven regional offices of the Catholic Church’s humanitarian agency Caritas Internationalis, reelected Bangladeshi Dr. Benedict Alo D’Rozario as its president.
His reelection came during the Caritas Regional Assembly in Rome, a day before the 22nd General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis. He will serve for a second and last term of another four years.
D’Rozario was first elected into the post in 2019, making him the first lay person to fill the role, succeeding Archbishop Kikuchi.
Caritas Asia is composed of 24 regional offices.
D’Rozario, 66, served in Caritas Bangladesh for 29 years. He retired in 2016 after serving as the agency’s executive director for 11 years.
Pope Francis last year placed the Caritas Internationalis management under temporary administration to supposedly improve its management rules and procedures.
Almost six months ago, through a decree, he appointed Dr. Pier Francesco Pineli as temporary administrator of Caritas Internationalis.
The decree also named Dr. Maria Amparo Alonso Escobar and Jesuit Fr. Manuel Morujão as support to Pinelli “for the personal and spiritual accompaniment of the employees.”
Throughout the period, they were assisted by Tagle, president emeritus of Caritas Internationalis, who was responsible for relations with the local Churches and Caritas’s network.
Image credits: AP/Gregorio Borgia
