Michael Hichborn Investigates the connection between Caritas Internationalis and the World Social Forum
Caritas Internationalis is the largest social justice organization in the Catholic Church. It serves as a confederation of Catholic social justice and charitable organizations around the world. According to the history presented on the Caritas website:
The Church describes Caritas as its official voice “in relation to its teachings in the area of charity work”
To this day, Caritas is an organization not only affiliated with, but run by, the Catholic Church. During his pontificate, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI praised Caritas, saying that the organization “has rightly earned the esteem and trust of the faithful and of many other people around the world for its generous and consistent witness of faith and its concrete ability to respond to the needs of the poor.” Earlier this year, Pope Francis made a video encouraging the faithful to participate in the organization’s food drive — particularly during the month of October.
The (2014) president of Caritas Internationalis is Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, one of the pope’s closest advisors. There is little doubt that Caritas is an organization deeply rooted within and currently overseen by the Vatican – and has very high visibility as a Catholic institution.
But in a new investigative report from Michael Hichborn at the American Life League, it has been revealed that Caritas Internationalis sits on the governing board of the World Social Forum – an organization whose members and events promote pro-communist, pro-homosexuality, and pro-abortion ideas and action.
The following video breaks down the disturbing nature of the World Social Forum and what the investigation uncovered. (For their full PDF report on the story, go here.) The data indicates that Caritas is actively involved in setting policy for the World Social Forum, not merely acting as an arm’s-length affiliate. This is a serious conflict of interest, and its discovery raises questions that demand answers:
Cardinal Maradiaga has been a controversial figure since his recent rise to prominence. He has been outspoken in his condemnation of free markets as incompatible with Catholic Social Teaching, raising questions in the minds of some about whether the inherently Marxist underpinnings of liberation theology — prevalent in areas of Latin America, including Honduras — have influenced his thinking.
It seems fair to ask: is he ignorant of the true nature of the World Social Forum and its subversive workshops and activities? Is it possible that the association of Caritas Internationalis with the World Social Forum is merely an oversight that can and will be easily remedied?
Or is the involvement of Caritas Internationalis in the World Social Forum something that originates from the same mindset that fueled Maradiaga’s recent criticisms of the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Müller?
Müller is “a German, one has to say, and above all he’s a German theology professor, so in his mentality there’s only truth and falsehood.”Laughing, Maradiaga added, “The world, my brother, the world is not like that. You should be a little flexible when you hear other voices, so that you not only listen and say, ‘No and here is the wall’.”
Whatever the case, sometimes as Catholics we have to draw the line. Sometimes, our only choice is to say, “No, and here is the wall.” Justice demands the immediate cessation of involvement by Caritas with a group that embraces and promotes agendas which are not only antithetical to Catholic moral teaching, but have been explicitly condemned by the Church.
Email: caritas.internationalis@caritas.va