Caritas’ mission strengthened by Pope’s message of peace

The head of Caritas Australia, Kirsten Sayers, considers Pope Leo XIV to be uniquely placed to impart the message of one of the world’s largest aid agencies: justice, dignity and hope for all.

‘He is the Pope for peace,’ Ms Sayers says. ‘He is a former director of Caritas Peru, so he’s one of ours.

‘He’s using his leadership to build coalitions for peace, to inspire Catholics around the world to be peace-builders, peacemakers, which is the call for all of us. Caritas Internationalis—of which Caritas Australia is part—is part of the Catholic Church’s social justice, aid and development. So for us, it’s really inspiring to have peacemaking front and centre.’

Caritas Internatioanalis, as a confederation of national Catholic relief agencies with a tiny head office in Rome, is second only to the International Committee of the Red Cross in its global reach and impact. And right now, it has its work cut out for it as wars, famines and natural disasters keep coming, with no end in sight.

‘Hope, justice, dignity, peacemaking—that’s what we at Caritas strive for before, during and after crisis or conflict,’ Ms Sayers says. ‘We are that bridge, a conduit into communities.’

Those bridges are built by active support of the agencies on the ground, and by coalition-building locally. Caritas Australia was recently inspired to hold an interfaith service on World Humanitarian Day, which is observed on 19 August each year to honour humanitarian workers and promote awareness of humanitarian issues.

Ms Sayers says the service was to acknowledge their lost colleagues, and those of other aid agencies. ‘To hold that service with [Australian] Cardinal Mykola Bychok speaking, and to have representatives of other faiths there, I think was a very clear message that we’re able to signal that in Australia, too, we’re working for peace on earth, social cohesion.’

It demonstrated, crucially, at a time of heightened tensions, the strength of humanitarians working together, ‘protecting those who are out there on the front lines, serving their brothers and sisters,’ Ms Sayers says. ‘They’re really the good Samaritans, and those good Samaritans are the ones who are being killed or maimed or going hungry in service of others.’

This commitment to protecting humanitarians is moving from principle to policy. Caritas is supporting an Australian-led declaration for the protection of humanitarian personnel, now progressing towards the United Nations General Assembly. While acknowledging the cynicism that often surrounds international agreements, Ms Sayers believes in its power as ‘a revitalised commitment’ that brings the issue to the front of mind and calls for adherence to international law.

As crucial as high-level diplomacy is, Caritas’ strength lies in its local presence. It provides aid—which comes at great personal cost to local workers—in Gaza and Ukraine, whose wars are receiving worldwide attention. But Ms Sayers says local Caritas agencies are doing critical work in the ‘forgotten crises’ afflicting countries like Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

‘We collectively don’t hear much about that,’ she says. Those communities are in desperate need of support for their message, their story, their reality to be brought to light.’

This disparity in focus partly stems from the harsh reality of shrinking global aid budgets. Some nations have cut development assistance, the most drastic example being to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). But Ms Sayers says the Australian government has been a standout, with the maintenance of its overseas development budget allowing Caritas’ work to continue. However, the need always outstrips the resources, she concedes.

Caritas Australia has been trying to bolster some of the programs in the Indo-Pacific region that had been funded by the US Caritas arm, Catholic Relief Services, after the slashing of USAID funding. Much of the focus is on the Pacific and Timor Leste, where the Caritas message of justice, dignity and hope for all plays out against the backdrop of failing economies and the undeniable crisis of climate change.

Ms Sayers says we are watching climate change in real time—storms coming faster and harder, land erosion, persistent droughts and even changing fish migration patterns. All this threatens food security and water supply.

‘We work with our partners in these countries, and we listen to them, their needs, their priorities, their pressing concerns,’ Ms Sayers says. ‘They lead on what we support. We strengthen them in terms of funding, governance, financial management, because we’re also accompanying them to have those highly developed skills to lead it themselves.’

Caritas Oceania, the overarching regional body of country-based organisations, takes their messages directly to international forums like COP, the decision-making body of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. It advocates for environmental and economic justice, calling for recognition that small island nations are not responsible for the climate crisis that threatens their existence.

One aspect of economic justice that Caritas Australia is addressing is how to deal with the crippling debt these countries face. ‘We’ve been running a “turn debt into hope” campaign this year as part of the Jubilee campaign, and that’s very much to change the structure of debt and financing,’ Ms Sayers says.

‘We’re calling for some of the international systems to be changed to really accommodate [economic justice]. And that’s the message that’s being taken into COP in Brazil this year.’

In Australia, the Caritas peacemaking mission continues through a network of diocesan directors and partnerships with organisations like the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC). From running the iconic Project Compassion campaign to embedding justice education in schools, Ms Sayers says, the focus is on being a grassroots bridge within Australian communities.

The role of Caritas Australia is one of connection, she says, forging partnerships, amplifying voices and remaining faithful to its mission as an agency of the Church.

‘Each and every one of us has a role to play,’ Ms Sayers says. ‘There’s amplification of voices, there’s forging partnerships, there’s arms and legs on the ground, there’s donors … it’s bringing it all together, being that bridge of hope, dignity and justice to the communities we serve in Australia and overseas.’