Pope Leo XIV encourages, shares gratitude with the Catholic Charities network
October 8, 2025
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) hosts the 115th annual gathering of the Catholic Charities network this week, Pope Leo XIV sent a letter expressing gratitude for the life-giving ministries of Catholic Charities agencies spread out across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. In his letter, the Pope imparted his Apostolic Blessing upon all members of the Catholic Charities network for their work on behalf of the most vulnerable families and individuals in their communities.
“Dear friends, I express my heartfelt gratitude for all that you and those who work with your networks do each day to put into practice the Lord’s admonition to see and serve him in the poor, hungry, homeless, and people in any kind of need (cf. Mt 25:31-46),” Pope Leo XIV wrote. “May Christ continue to accompany you and give you his joy and peace.”
Founded in 1910, CCUSA is a national membership organization that supports and represents 168 independent Catholic Charities agencies nationwide. Collectively, the Catholic Charities network each year serves more than 15 million vulnerable people, regardless of their faith or background, through food and nutrition programs, affordable housing, disaster relief and a variety of other humanitarian services.
“We are profoundly grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the Apostolic Blessing he has imparted upon the Catholic Charities network, and we are inspired and invigorated by the solidarity and encouragement he offered in his letter,” CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said. “As we celebrate our 115th anniversary during this Jubilee Year of Hope, our network leaves our annual gathering resolutely committed to serve, in the words of the Holy Father, as ‘agents of hope’ for our vulnerable and suffering sisters and brothers across the United States.”
For the first time in its history, CCUSA is hosting its annual gathering in a U.S. territory by convening nearly 600 staff, volunteers and supporters from around the country in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in concert with Cáritas de Puerto Rico, the member agency that serves those most in need across the island. During a plenary session reflecting on the first five months of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, Robinson invited to the stage His Excellency Roberto González Nieves, the Metropolitan Archbishop of San Juan, to read the Pope’s letter in front of the full conference.
In his letter, the Holy Father praised the Catholic Charities network’s longstanding commitment to answer the Gospel call to welcome the stranger by serving vulnerable refugees and immigrants. He encouraged Catholic Charities agencies to continue this important work.
“It might be said that through assisting displaced persons to find their new homes in your country, you also act as bridge builders between nations, cultures and peoples,” Pope Leo XIV wrote. “I encourage you, then, to continue helping the communities who receive these newly arrived brothers and sisters to be living witnesses of hope, recognizing that they have an intrinsic human dignity and are invited to participate fully in community.”
Read the full letter from Pope Leo XIV to the Catholic Charities network.
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