Tag Archives: Lesley-Anne Knight

March 31, 2011 · 6:14 PM

Letter from Rome: March 2011

Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center employee Mya Ziadeh with a child at Saloum border crossing between Libya and Egypt. Credit: Donal Reilly

Available in French and Spanish

By Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis

The headlines have been dominated by the conflicts in Libya and across the Middle East, a descent into civil war in Cote D’Ivoire and the terrible earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

Caritas has sent two Emergency Response Teams to the Libyan-Egyptian and the Libyan-Tunisian borders and is providing emergency aid such as food, health care and counselling to thousands of stranded migrants.

I have visited Caritas Japan, and know it’s wonderful work. So I know the resilience and courage they will have as they respond to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the northern coast of Japan on 11th March 2011. Caritas has been giving out blankets and supporting parishes in providing food.

Hundreds of thousands of Ivoirians have already fled their homes to escape the violent post-election clashes in Côte d’Ivoire. Caritas is providing food, health care, sanitation and more to thousands of displaced people inside Côte d’Ivoire and in nearby Liberia. Continue reading →

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December 7, 2010 · 3:52 PM

European Development Days

Lesley-Anne Knight at the EU Development Days conference

By Alain Rodríguez García, Caritas Europa

Lesley-Ann Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis , delivered a speech yesterday during the Opening Session of the 5th edition of the European Development Days that are being hold in Brussels on 6-7 December.

Ms. Knight shared the floor with a series of European and international personalities such as Belgium’s Prime Minister Yves Letterme, European Commission President Joao Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar.

Starting with a clear reminder of Caritas’ preferential option for the poor, Ms. Knight talked about the dire reality in which the have-nots are living across the world. She mentioned the fact that 50% of global migration is composed of women and girls, who face terrible dangers when attempting to reach the dream of a better life. She also reminded the forum that poverty is everywhere, even in the richest of the countries such as the United States, Japan and the European Union (EU). Continue reading →

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October 29, 2010 · 9:44 AM

Letter from Rome October 2010

 

Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight with Caritas Chile Director Lorenzo Figueroa on a visit to Talca to meet people affected by an earthquake earlier in the year. Credit: Caritas.

 

By Lesley Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis

English | Spanish | French

Change has been in the air in Rome in October, with autumnal weather and new appointments. Caritas Internationalis warmly congratulated His Eminence Cardinal-elect Robert Sarah on his appointment to the College of Cardinals and as President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. We look forward to renewed and fruitful collaboration with Cor Unum under his leadership.

Rome hosted the Middle East Synod of Bishops this month, where Church leaders discussed the unique difficulties facing this fragile region. Delegates included representatives of Caritas Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Caritas Middle East and North Africa (MONA)  President,  Joseph Farah. The propositions adopted  by the Synod Fathers show real hope in unity that there is a way out of the conflict which overshadows so much of daily life there. “Peace is possible”, as the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI said in his closing address. Continue reading →

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November 4, 2009 · 5:27 PM

A swell of voices to help children with HIV and TB

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US ambassador to the Vatican, Miguel Diaz, and Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's observer to the UN in Geneva, were just two of the speakers on the first day of the Caritas/US Embassy to the Holy See AIDS conference. Credit: Caritas/Michelle Hough

By Michelle Hough, communications officer for Caritas Internationalis

If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito, goes the saying.

Representatives from UN agencies, drug companies and NGOs and faith-based organisations large and small (but very effective) came to Rome mid-October to make headway on the desperate problem of children living with HIV and TB in poor countries.

The occasion was a paediatrics AIDS conference organised by Caritas Internationalis and the US Embassy to the Holy See. There were few mosquitoes around thankfully, but lots of ideas and discussion on the issues surrounding children with AIDS and TB.

One of the main messages to emerge from the conference on improving testing and treatment for these children was that while all the organisations worked well in their fields, their impact would be much greater if they joined their forces together. Continue reading →

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September 29, 2009 · 9:23 AM

Lesley-Anne Knight , au service des plus pauvres

La Croix, 25 séptembre 2009

Secrétaire générale de Caritas Internationalis depuis deux ans, cette humanitaire polyglotte née dans l’ancienne Rhodésie conjugue engagement au sein de l’Église et dans le monde et se bat contre l’injustice et la misère

Une femme ? « Et alors ! » Légèrement excédée, Lesley-Anne Knight écarte d’emblée la première question. Femme, oui, petit bout de femme, même, dont le regard pétille, à la mesure de l’étonnement de son interlocuteur. De fait, dans ces immenses – et froids – bureaux romains du palais Saint-Calixte, qui dépendent du Vatican, on a rarement l’habitude de voir une femme au plus haut poste. Lisez.

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