Ahead of the Pope’s Day of Charity, which will be celebrated next Sunday, 26 June, the Vatican released financial data showing that South Korea is the fourth donor country. Of the € 9.8 million allocated by the pontiff to projects for the communities most in need, more than a quarter went to Asia.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Like every year, on the Sunday closest to the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul, dioceses around the world will celebrate the Pope’s Day of Charity. This year, it falls next Sunday, 26 June.
On that day, Peter's Pence will be collected in every parish, and the offerings from every continent will be sent to the Vatican so that the pontiff can allocate them to his ministry and to situations of greatest need.
Peter’s Pence provides the pontiff with funds for emergency aid to communities affected by wars or natural disasters.
Ahead of next Sunday, the Holy See released information about the offerings collected in 2021 and their use. The financial report shows the generosity of Asia’s Catholics as well as the pontiff’s particular concern for difficult situations in that continent.
In terms of contributions, churches in South Korea confirm their great trust in Peter’s Pence; the Far East Asian country ranks fourth in terms of offerings with € 1.4 million (about 3.2 per cent of the total).
This is significant since the top three countries – the United States (€ 13 million), Italy (€ 5 million) and Germany (€ 2.3 million) – have a long tradition of supporting Peter's Pence. South Korea is also the only top 10country not in Europe or the Americas.
Peter's Pence received € 6.5 million (14.6 per cent of the total) in 2021 from countries that do not appear in the top 10 list, with many offerings sent to Rome from smaller Catholic communities in Asia.
Moreover, in Asia local Churches have often experienced the closeness of the Pope's charity in times of difficulty or for projects that might have otherwise never seen the light.
Overall, in 2021, Peter's Pence funded projects worldwide worth € 35 million both through activities promoted by the Pope himself via the Roman Curia, or direct assistance to the communities most in need. The latter include 157 projects worth € 9.8 million.
It is interesting to note that 25.5 per cent of these funds went to Asia to finance 38 projects centred on social development, evangelisation activities and building new churches.
As an example, the report by Peter's Pence cites three initiatives in Asia, namely support for a project in Cubao (Philippines) to fight the sad scourge of sexual exploitation and online child trafficking; the construction of dormitories for the Seminary of Jesus the Lord in the Diocese of Maumere (Indonesia); and the construction of the parish church in Dalabari, Diocese of Bongaigaon, in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam.