Papal Foundation presents
the Holy Father with $8.5 million
to support his charities
April 21, 2012
Pope Benedict met and thanked the US-based Papal Foundation today for their contributions to support and help the Church in developing nations on his behalf. The Foundation is headed by7 Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, DC.
During their annual audience with the Holy Father, representatives of the Foundation presented the Pope with $8.5 million to support charitable projects of the Holy Father.
The funds will help support 105 programs in nearly 50 nations on four continents. Grants include $500,000 to construct five schools in Egypt and $43,000 for construction of a health care facility and maternity clinic in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Other projects include a soup kitchen in the Ukraine, the construction of a church in Angola, a health center in Malawi, and a new seminary in Peru. In addition, Saeman Scholarships will support theological studies in Rome for 59 seminarians, priests, religious and lay people from 23 developing nations so they may return to their home nations equipped to teach the faith.
Here is the text of the Pope's address to them, delivered in English:
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to greet the members of the Papal Foundation on the occasion of your annual pilgrimage to Rome. May your visit to the tombs of the apostles and martyrs strengthen your love for the crucified and risen Lord and your commitment to the service of his Church.
I am happy to have this occasion to thank you personally for your support of a wide variety of apostolates close to the heart of the Successor of Peter.
In coming months I will have the honor of canonizing two new Saints from North America. Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope are striking examples of sanctity and heroic charity, but they also remind us of the historic role played by women in the building up of the Church in America.
By their example and intercession, may all of you be confirmed in the pursuit of holiness and in your efforts to contribute to the growth of God’s Kingdom in the hearts of people today.
Through the work of the Papal Foundation, you help to further the Church’s mission of evangelization, promote the education and integral development of our brothers and sisters in poorer countries, and advance the missionary endeavors of so many dioceses and religious congregations throughout the world.
In these days I ask your continued prayers for the needs of the universal Church and in particular for the freedom of Christians to proclaim the Gospel and bring its light to the urgent moral issues of our time.
With great affection I commend you and your families to the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.
Sr. Francis of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ says she is an example of how investing in the future of one person means investing in the future of an entire nation.
Sr. Francis is from Northern Nigeria and she is the recipient of a Seaman Scholarship, founded by Papal Foundation stewards John and Carol Seaman.
Years ago the Seamans asked Pope John Paul II where their donation would be best invested. He replied that it was for the future of developing nations, more specifically in giving young men and women, religious and lay, access to top level education.
“This scholarship has really helped me a lot because I really suffered before”, she told Emer McCarthy. “Actually when I was asked to do this course in psychology I was quite afraid because we don’t have a community in Rome, so I didn’t know where I could live or how I would support myself”.
Sr. Francis says her Congregation, founded by Irish Missionary Charles Heery, focuses on empowering young girls and women in African society, through schools, orphanages, hospitals and clinics. “We train the young children, young girls but also young boys, not just academically but also spiritually to know God”.
“The study of psychology is going to be of immense benefit to us, not just to me particularly, to help my congregation and Church in Nigeria. We have many vocations to religious life in the Congregation…so we need competent hands, somebody who is well informed who will be able to help these young girls in their process of formation. And not just in the formation houses.
"When I go back to Nigeria, I will also be able to give a hand in the seminaries, in the psychological assessment of the candidates who wish to be priests, because our psychology course here in the Gregorian opens us, gives us many opportunities. And then I could also give help in the parishes in giving family therapy. I have so many areas I can help".