It’s “Bring Back USAID Or Everyone Will Die (But Mostly My Organization Will Lose Money)”  – Part 3

The Vatican’s charity said Monday that U.S. plans to gut USAID were “reckless” and could kill millions, while Pope Francis’ point man on development urged the Trump administration to remember Christian principles about caring for others.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Czech-born Canadian Jesuit, is one of the cardinals most closely associated with Francis’ pontificate and heads the Vatican office responsible for migrants, the environment, the church’s Caritas Internationalis charity and development.

Caritas on Monday warned that millions of people could die as a result of the “ruthless” U.S. decision to “recklessly” stop USAID funding, and hundreds of millions more will be condemned to “dehumanizing poverty.”

Millions of people could die… if you don’t give us money.

More relevantly, USAID provides between 50% to 60% of Catholic Relief’s budget. And despite the name, much of CRS’ work does not involve helping Christians, (e.g. Gaza) and other Muslim parts of the world.

In a speech a day earlier at the International Religious Freedom Summit, Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, questioned why the U.S. is ending “sending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGOs that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe.”

John Carr, the former executive director of the bishops’ Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, acknowledged that “any agency and program can be improved.” But he accused the Trump administration of “seeking to silence and intimidate” those who question or oppose its policies.

“Vice President Vance attacked the Catholic Church for our work with migrants and others attack CRS’s help for hungry and sick people around the world claiming we serve poor children and vulnerable families at home and abroad for the money,” said Carr.

Money certainly seems to be a factor here. But so does politics.

Pope Francis’s candidate and party lost an election. That has consequences. And it’s a bit late to protest that CRS is a bipartisan project when its political agenda and policies are diametrically opposed to those of Trump and the American people.