Pope Leo meets Catholic Charities USA board, encourages its work carrying on ‘our Lord’s ministry of compassion’

Pope Leo XIV met with the Catholic Charities USA Board of Directors on May 4 at the Vatican, where he told them that their efforts to bring material support to people in crisis are an opportunity to witness to the joy of the Resurrection. 

In an address reflecting on their work in the context of the Easter season, Pope Leo reminded the board that before the Ascension, Jesus assured His Apostles that He will always be with them. This reality of Christ’s presence is also true in the present day for Christians evangelizing through charitable efforts, he continued.

“The proclamation of the Gospel through caring for the poor and for those most in need will always present certain difficulties on both the personal and the institutional levels,” he remarked.

The Pontiff cited the need for providing adequate resources, combating discouragement, and showing people that charitable service is essential to Christian life. 

“I am fully aware that the Catholic Charities agencies in the United States of America are by no means immune from these challenges that continue to manifest themselves in our own day,” he said. “Yet it is precisely when we are confronted with such obstacles that we must learn to hear Jesus’ voice saying to us once again, ‘I am with you always!’”

Jesus walks with His disciples particularly when they are frustrated or doubting, Pope Leo noted, recalling the Lord’s encounters with Saint Thomas the Apostle and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

“That is why I encourage you,” Pope Leo continued, “and I encourage your worthy efforts and I express gratitude for your willingness to carry on our Lord’s ministry of compassion, especially to the least among us. In doing so, you seek to find solutions to inhumane situations, to alleviate the suffering of individuals and families, and to relieve the burden of those who are weighed down by hardship and strife.”

Catholic Charities USA is the American member of the Vatican charitable organization Caritas Internationalis and includes more than 170 diocesan agencies, according to Vatican News. 

The Pontiff advised the board members to always carry out their daily work with Christ’s charity as their motivation. He extolled cultivating “the desire to bring to others material aid with the love of the heart of Jesus, for it is in that love that they will find genuine rest and their dignity will be respected.”

He quoted from his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, where it states love for one’s neighbor is evidence of the authenticity of one’s love for God and continued by pointing out a parallel of this is also true. 

“Authentically loving our neighbor entails offering them the possibility of a true encounter with God,” he said. “Your work with the less fortunate continues to provide a privileged opportunity to share the joy of the Resurrection, and I thank you for this sincere witness of faith.”

Catholic Charities’ material support to those who are disadvantaged gives them an opportunity to encounter God’s love and cultivate a relationship with Him, he continued. “At the same time, it enables you to come into contact with the flesh of Christ by seeking to see and serve him in our brothers and sisters. In this way, your works of charity become a mutual encounter with the Lord who is present among us.”

Pope Leo encouraged them to let the hope of the Resurrection guide their charitable work and to be “motivated by His promise” to always be with the faithful. 

“The Risen Lord comes to instill peace in our hearts and open up paths of hope and new life,” he said, “assuring us that he truly is ‘making all things new.’”  

He concluded by offering his prayers, entrusting the board members and their colleagues to Mary Immaculate, and imparting his apostolic blessing to all agencies associated with Catholic Charities USA as a “pledge of peace and joy in the risen Lord.”