VATICAN CITY (AP) — 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.”
USAID is the main international humanitarian and development arm of the U.S. government and in 2023 managed more than $40 billion in combined appropriations, accounting for around 40% of the global aid budget. The Trump administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk have targeted USAID hardest so far in their challenge of federal government spending: A sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of USAID’s programs worldwide, though a federal judge on Friday put a temporary halt to plans to pull thousands of agency staffers off the job.