Cross Catholic Outreach Continues Collaboration With Vatican Dicastery

From its inception, Cross Catholic Outreach has supported the charitable works of the Catholic Church and followed Catholic social teaching in its ministry to the poorest of the poor. Following the directives of the Holy Father, we began supporting his charitable works through the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which was established to model works of mercy in a tangible way throughout the world. This relationship led us to a number of long-standing partnerships, such as with the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guatemala. What began as a small project to build a few houses has developed into a collaboration to provide clean water, safe houses, a new chapel, catechetical outreach and so much more.

In 2018, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum merged into the larger Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development under the leadership of its prefect, Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson. Cross Catholic continued to support projects through the dicastery, and in recent years, through the dicastery’s Populorum Progressio Foundation, which supports projects in dioceses in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Cardinal Turkson ended his tenure at the end of 2021, and now Cardinal Michael F. Czerny, S.J., has become the interim prefect of the dicastery, with Sister Alessandra Smerilli serving as interim secretary. Father Christopher Mahar of the Diocese of Providence has also joined the dicastery staff, and we continue to support the charitable works of the Holy Father in close collaboration with the dicastery. We are grateful to Cardinal Turkson — as well as to Cardinal Robert Sarah, who led Pontifical Council Cor Unum when Cross Catholic received its pontifical status as a juridic person in the Catholic Church. We continue to be blessed by their support and prayers.