• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Argentine President Javier Milei is pictured during a visit to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Feb. 7, 2024. Argentina's bishops Feb. 5 expressed concern over rampant hunger amid government cuts to parish soup kitchens, warning Milei that "food cannot be a variable in economic adjustments." (OSV News photo/Ammar Awad, Reuters)

Caritas Argentina, government renew agreement on soup kitchens; hunger concerns remain

February 7, 2024
By David Agren
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, News, Social Justice, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Caritas Argentina has renewed an agreement with the federal government to provide snacks at church-operated soup kitchens. The move came amid church concern over rampant hunger in the country.

Caritas Argentina announced the renewal Feb. 7 in a short statement on X, formerly Twitter, which said, “(Caritas) will continue working together with those suffering from the food crisis within the framework of the serious social situation that is being experienced.” The government also signed a similar agreement with a group of evangelical churches, too, the Clarin newspaper reported.

A woman in need is pictured in a file photo eating at a community soup kitchen managed by San Jose de Flores Catholic Parish in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s bishops have expressed concern over rampant hunger amid government cuts to parish soup kitchens in a Feb. 5, 2024, statement, warning libertarian President Javier Milei that “food cannot be a variable in economic adjustments.” (OSV News photo/Enrique Marcarian, Reuters)

Argentina’s bishops previously expressed concern over possible government cuts to parish soup kitchens, warning libertarian President Javier Milei that “food cannot be a variable in economic adjustments.”

“In our country no one should go hungry as it’s the blessed land of bread,” said the bishops’ statement, issued Feb. 5 and signed by four bishops who lead the conference. “Today, however, hundreds of thousands of families are finding it difficult to feed themselves well.”

The statement marked the Argentine bishops’ conference’s first statement of 2024, but it comes as Milei prepares for a Feb. 11 meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

It also marked a more critical stance toward Milei, whose political rise was met with cautious comments — even as he accused fellow Argentine Pope Francis of “preaching communism.”

But church observers say the statement followed a decision by the federal government to revamp the process for purchasing food and supplying soup kitchens.

The revised process “decentralizes” the process, according to the Human Capital Ministry, the newspaper La Nacion reported.

Observers say the government aims to fulfill a Milei campaign promise by eliminating intermediaries and middlemen, leading to shortages at soup kitchens — including places operated by the Catholic Church — as the process unfolds.

The director of a Catholic organization, speaking anonymously, said the government had audited the organization, but welcomed the scrutiny.

“They want to remove the middlemen, who are basically the ones keeping a lot of money which belongs to the poor,” the director said. “The ministry is going to visit all these places so that help arrives directly.”

The bishops’ conference statement spoke of the soup kitchen cuts, saying, “All care spaces that provide food, all community kitchens, parish kitchens, evangelical churches, and popular movements must receive help without delay. No sector of those that are acting today, no institution or church, could do it alone. The complexity of the crisis is indicating this.”

Observers say the cuts have struck a chord with some in the bishops’ conference as the church has a long history of serving the poor and striving to find social peace in times of economic and political crisis.

“There’s a lot of displeasure among the bishops of the cuts to the soup kitchens,” Mariano De Vedia, religion writer at La Nación, told OSV News. “There’s a distancing” between the bishops and Milei, he added.

Milei inherited an economic turbulence upon taking office Dec. 10. But he promised to slash what he considered a bloated state overseen by a corrupt political class he branded “The Caste.”

He has pushed an omnibus bill in congress, which grants the president broad decree powers, helps privatize state-owned industries and pushes economic reforms. But the bill became bogged down in congress, which sent it back to committee Feb. 7.

Poverty afflicted 44.7 percent of the population in December, according to the Social Debt Observatory at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, while inflation topped 200 percent in 2023.

“Inflation over the years has increased daily and hits the price of food hard. It’s clearly felt in the working middle class, retirees and those not seeing their salaries grow,” the bishops said. “Faced with this scenario of sacrificed work and low income, families deprive themselves of many things.”

Church soup kitchens have expanded in times of crisis, serving vulnerable populations and the unemployed. The bishops mentioned the COVID pandemic, which “taught us the value of organized community response: united to heal, care and share was the slogan of that time.”

This story was updated Feb. 8 at 9:20 a.m.

Read More World News

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

David Agren

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

  • Augustinian prior opens up about papal vacation, first encyclical, appointments and tennis

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en