(French for ), also known as – Caritas France, is a French

not-for-profit organisation A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations (NPO ...

. It works to alleviate problems of poverty and exclusion of all sections of the population and seeks to promote social justice. is a service of the

Catholic Church in France The Catholic Church in France, Gallican Church, or French Catholic Church, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. Established in the 2nd century in unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, it was sometim ...

. It is a member of both

Caritas Europa Caritas Europa is a European confederation of Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billi ...

and

Caritas Internationalis Caritas Internationalis (Latin for ) is a confederation of 162 national Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. The name Caritas Internationalis refers to both the ...

History

was established in 1946 on the occasion of the

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

pilgrimage, with the return of 100,000 prisoners and deportees. It was founded by the French priest , former chaplain to prisoners of war, with the approval of the Assembly of Cardinals and Archbishops of France. His goal was to work with volunteers to support persons experiencing poverty without distinction of race, religion or nationality. In 1954, the organisation created its first providing accommodation for workers from the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

. Later, many other such establishments were created for people in precarious situations, the homeless, disabled people and migrants. In 1962, received status () which brought with it certain advantages related to donations. In the 1970s and 1980s, in the context of rising unemployment and new precariousness, urged the public authorities to initiate social justice policies to combat the causes of poverty. Since then, the organisation has also provided national and international support to the people impacted by large scale emergencies in France and abroad, including to the victims of the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

, the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

, the most vulnerable persons impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

and the Ukrainian refugees arriving in France after the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Structure and work

In France, covers the whole country through its 3,500 local teams divided into 72 local offices called delegations. It carries out its activities with the help of 900 employees and 59,000 volunteers. In addition to its work in France, also work internally by supporting the

development cooperation Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by ...

and

humanitarian relief Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian a ...

efforts of its partner organisations around the world. The organisation is one of the NGO partners of

DG ECHO DG may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Death Grips, an American experimental hip hop group * DG (character), in the science fiction series ''Tin Man'' * Dial Global, a radio network * Dragon Gate, a Japanese professional wrestling promotion ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Charities based in France Social justice organizations Organizations based in Paris Organizations established in 1946 1946 establishments in France Catholic Church in France Caritas Internationalis Development charities based in France Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe Refugee aid organizations in Europe Christian organizations established in 1946