Who is Aloysius John, the ousted head of Caritas who denounces a “seizure of power” by the Vatican

On November 22, 2022, Francisco issued a papal decree dismissing the top management of Caritas International, the Vatican’s best-known charity. The surprising decision of the Catholic leader came after an external investigation that determined that there were “real deficiencies” related to a management that “seriously harmed the team spirit and the morale of the staff.”

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Six months after that decision, and on the eve of the general assembly of Caritas to convene its assembly to elect new leaders, the deposed general secretary of the organization Aloysius John has decided to speak for the first time about it.

Through an eight-page open letter sent to the Caritas network, John described the papal decision as “hasty, with incredible violence and very bad public communication”, something that according to the deposed director would have “discredited the church and one of its jewellery, Caritas International”.

“It is a brutal power grab,” John sentenced in his letter.

WHO IS ALOYISIUS JOHN?

Born 65 years ago in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Aloysius John began his Caritas career in 1983 in the French diocese of Creteil.

John, who is also a French national, began to work his way up the organization through the Asia-Oceania, Middle East and North Africa offices. In 2004 he coordinated aid sent from the French offices of Caritas to Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of that year.

In 2004, John coordinated aid sent from Caritas’ French offices to Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. (AFP Agency /)

At the same time, he worked as a professor at different European universities, where he taught classes on development, humanitarian aid, and disaster and emergency management. In 2012 he received the National Order of Merit in France and a year later he was appointed head of the area of ​​institutional development and capacity building of Caritas.

During the XXI General Assembly of Caritas, held between May 23 and 28, 2019 in Rome, John was elected Secretary General of the organization after a contested vote.

In his first speech, John said he would work to ensure that Caritas is “at the heart of the Church accompanying those who live in poverty or on the margins of society (…) saving lives and reducing the impact of crises humanitarian (…) build solidarity at a global level and strengthen Caritas and support our most fragile members”.

MISTREATMENT AND INCOMPETENCE

Barely two years after his election, however, the first internal complaints within Caritas International began to be reported. The board launched an investigation but no action was taken.

The complaints did not stop and the Vatican had to intervene by launching an independent external investigation. The review ruled out financial problems, since the organization had registered income of US$5.2 million and expenses of US$4.4 million during 2020. No indications of cases of sexual violence were found either.

However, the investigators discovered that in the two years that John had been in charge, there had been massive resignations in the organization, despite the fact that a position in Caritas is highly valued in the Holy See, especially for benefits such as tax exemption. . Most of the testimonies explained that he made the decision because of the abusive conditions to which they were subjected.

On November 22, 2022, Pope Francis ordered the removal of the board of Caritas International and in its place appointed a temporary board headed by the comptroller Pier Francesco Pinelli. (Tiziana Fabi / AFP /)

The investigative team report detailed that the abuses included accusations of harassment, favoritism, humiliation of employees, mismanagement of human resources, as well as incompetence of the CEO. A former employee, for example, denounced John’s mishandling of a scandal of sexual abuse of minors registered at the end of 2019 at the headquarters of the Central African Republic.

In his letter of this Tuesday the 9th, John assures that his dismissal really responds to racial reasons. According to the deposed director, the Cáritas leaders from the wealthier regions “in the north” would have constantly opposed having a leader “from the south”, as reported by the AP agency.

In what has been known about his letter, John does not refer to the allegations of mistreatment of employees during his tenure. The Church, for its part, hopes that the assembly that will be held from May 11 to 16 will serve to put an end to a turbulent decade in which the Vatican has had to carry out more than one intervention in the powerful Caritas.

Source: Elcomercio