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Pope Dismisses Leadership Of Global Catholic Charity Arm, Appoints Commissioner

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Pope Francis dismissed the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church’s global charity arm on Tuesday after he heard accusations of bullying and humiliation of employees against the leadership. He has appointed a commissioner to run the charity arm.

This sudden move included the executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organizations operating in more than 200 countries.

The dismissal of the executive level of CI, which contains more than a million staff and volunteers worldwide, were declared in a papal decree released by the Vatican press office.

Current and former employees told British news agency Reuters about cases of verbal abuse, favouritism, and general human resources mismanagement that caused some staff to leave. CI is located in a Vatican-owned building in Rome.

In a different statement, the Vatican’s development division, which is in charge of CI, said that an examination of the office atmosphere this year by outside management and psychology specialists discovered lethargy and poor management techniques at its headquarters.

The development office said, “No evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel’s work.”

It further said, “Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team spirit and staff morale.”

Although “financial matters have been well-handled and fundraising goals have been regularly achieved,” management standards and practices needed to be improved, according to the report.

A CI spokesperson referred all questions to the statement.

Those who were named in the decree included Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was nominally president of Caritas but he was not responsible for running the daily operations. His primary position at the Vatican is as the organization’s missionary wing’s leader.

The position of the president is traditionally held by a cardinal.

Cardinal Tagle is a Filipino who is normally considered a potential future pope, will vacate from the president’s position but take up a new role to help the commissioner maintain relations with national Caritas offices and prep up for election of a new leadership next year.

According to two current or former Caritas employees and one former employee, the decree was directed at the board and the office of the departing secretary general’s management style.

The ex-employee said that employees had resigned from the jobs at the headquarters due to an environment of bullying, fear and “ritual humiliation”.

Apart from Tagle and one priest, all members of the CI executive were lay people.

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