Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - A total of 950 000 people living in Spain went to the assistance Service of Caritas in 2010 to meet their basic needs, especially for food, 550,000 more over the past three years, according to the Sixth Report of the Observatory of the social reality regarding the crisis of the confederal network center of Caritas. In detail, the 950 000 people, 300 000 turned to Caritas for the first time, particularly affected by rising unemployment, mainly families (74 percent), as stated in the note sent to fides.
Seven out of ten people who sought the help of Caritas last year (67 percent) were addressed by the municipal social services who, according to the operators of Diocesan Caritas, offer "very low" primary care, due to lack of public services, poor performance, lack of human resources, excessive bureaucracy, limited assistance, lack of time for personal assistance, insufficient answers to the problems of eviction.
The Coordinator of the Study Group of Caritas, Francisco Lorenzo, said that while it takes Caritas four days to complete the first interview with a person asking for help, public social services are slow and takes almost a month (25.9 days ). He also stressed that while Caritas provides an effective response in about seven days, the municipal services require up to 65 days. The Secretary general of Caritas, Sebastian Mora, insisted that the report does not intend to become a "criticism" to the government, but "an appeal to the responsibility of institutions and social and political organizations ", underlining that Caritas tries to play a complementary role and not a substitute, as what is happening in 87 per cent of the Diocesan Caritas. (EC) (Agenzia Fides 07/08/2011)
