Where there is a need, there is Caritas
The international network of the charitable organization of the Catholic Church, Caritas Internationalis, is active in 165 countries: in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, North America, Latin America and Oceania and is considered the second largest organization in the world after the U.N.
Its mission is to eradicate poverty and promote the dignity of millions of people in need, but also to influence the unjust policies that keep them trapped in weakened positions.
Its network also includes Caritas Europa, which consists of 49 member organizations operating in 46 European countries, being one of the most important humanitarian and social actors in the Europe.
Caritas means love in Latin. The etymology of this word dates back to the Ancient Greek word κάρα = head, which used to be one of the favorite endearments of the ancient Greeks to express love, affection, admiration or/and honor to a person. The Latins used it in their tragedies. Maintaining the root, the subsequent European languages created a great number of words, such as: cher, chérie, caro (dear), caresse (caress), care, caressing, cara (face), charité, charity, carita, caridad etc.
The story of Caritas’ creation is set in Germany in 1897, when the young Catholic priest Fr. Lorenz Werthmann, driven by the value of the sentiment of love and solidarity, decided to establish Caritas’s action in his country for the first time as an organization against poverty and oppression.