Catholic News

Catholic Relief Services workers help to distribute humanitarian aid materials to Gazan civilians in March 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Relief Services

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 18, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is urging the Trump administration to reverse the cancellation of USAID's "lifesaving and life-giving assistance" following the official announcement that the majority of its programs have been cut. 

In a March 10 statement posted to X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported the completion of the International Humanitarian Assistance evaluation. "After a six-week review we are officially canceling 83% of the programs at USAID," he said.

"The 5,200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve (and in some cases even harmed) the core national interests of the United States," he continued.

"In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1,000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department," Rubio concluded.

In response, CRS in a March 17 press release stated: "As part of the Catholic Church, Catholic Relief Services believes that human life is a precious gift from God that must be protected and nurtured."

The nongovernmental organization, which carries out the commitment of the U.S. bishops to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas, explained that during the six-week review, it had to halt its "U.S. government-supported work due to the lack of payments."

The CRS statement said that "food in warehouses could not be distributed to the hungry and women and children could not get vital health and nutrition services."

"In addition," the statement said, "last week's termination of dozens of CRS' lifesaving projects will permanently cut off critical aid to more than 20 million people worldwide. Eleven of these terminated projects had received humanitarian waivers."

"These programs do more than save lives. They help lift communities and countries out of poverty. They support local faith-based and church partners that provide services and stability to their communities and to their countries."

"In the holy season of Lent in this special jubilee year, Pope Francis invites Catholics and all people to become artisans of hope by building communities rooted in solidarity."

The statement highlighted that the United States has a responsibility to global aid.

"CRS programs attend to the needs of very poor communities. As the most powerful and wealthy country in the world, our government also has a moral responsibility to assist the most vulnerable. As Pope Paul VI said in his encyclical Populorum Progressio: 'It is a very important duty of the advanced nations to help the developing nations.'"

"By ending these lifesaving programs, our government is not only neglecting our nation's responsibility but also weakening the very foundations of peace, stability, and prosperity."

"We urge the administration to reverse these terminations and issue prompt payments to continue this lifesaving and life-giving assistance," CRS concluded.

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