Pope Leo XIV gave “great encouragement” to the board and members of Catholic Charities USA when he greeted them just after midday on Monday, May 4, Kerry Robinson, its president and C.E.O., told journalists from U.S. media outlets at the Catholic News Service offices in Rome.
Catholic Charities, founded in 1910, is the national membership organization for 169 independent Catholic Charities agencies throughout the United States and its territories and is one of the country’s largest social services organizations. Last year alone, they helped more than 16 million people.
Greeting them in English, Pope Leo recalled that “the proclamation of the Gospel through caring for the poor and for those most in need will always present certain difficulties on both the personal and the institutional levels, as was the case with the Apostles and with the early church.” The difficulties, he said, “include finding sufficient resources, demonstrating to others that this type of service is an integral part of authentic Christian living, and not giving way to discouragement, particularly when we meet those whom we cannot help in the way that we would like.”
Alluding to the current turbulent political, social and economic situation in his homeland, Pope Leo said, “I am fully aware that the Catholic Charities agencies in the United States of America are by no means immune from these challenges that continue to manifest themselves in our own day.” He reminded them, however, that “it is precisely when we are confronted with such obstacles that we must learn to hear Jesus’ voice saying to us once again, ‘I am with you always!’”
“I encourage you, and I encourage your worthy efforts, and I express gratitude for your willingness to carry on our Lord’s ministry of compassion, especially to the least among us,” he said. In doing so, he told them, “you seek to find solutions to inhumane situations, to alleviate the suffering of individuals and families, in all these circumstances, it must be the charity of Christ that compels you in your daily work.”
Then quoting from his first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te,” he said it is true that “love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God” and it is also the case that “authentically loving our neighbor entails offering them the possibility of a true encounter with God.” Indeed, “The practical assistance that you and your partner agencies offer the disadvantaged allows them to experience God’s love through you, and opens a path for them to enter into a lasting relationship with him. At the same time, it enables you to come into contact with the flesh of Christ by seeking to see and serve him in our brothers and sisters.” He assured all those who work with Catholic Charities of his prayers for their “noble mission.”
Briefing journalists afterwards, Kerry Robinson said Pope Leo “greeted every one of the members of our delegation and offered powerfully inspiring, consoling and encouraging words to us.” Moreover, “he appreciates that the work of Catholic Charities across all 50 states and five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia is a manifestation of Christ’s love for humankind and serves as a beacon of hope, particularly since those who we care for are experiencing their hardest days and that suffering is compounded and exacerbated by poverty.”
They were all “deeply moved” by his words, she said, “and confirmed in our commitment to serve poor and vulnerable people of all backgrounds, of all faiths, in the United States and be part of the global humanitarian network under the auspices of the Catholic Church to bring merciful love and aid to people who need it the most, wherever they are suffering.”
In her work as president of the organization, she said, “I have seen an increase in private dollars to the work of Catholic Charities to the extent that people are made aware of the realities, the concrete realities facing poor and vulnerable people living in the United States.”
She recalled, for example, that when SNAP—which allows 42 million Americans to have supplemental food and nutrition—lapsed in 2025, Catholic Charities USA sprang into action and made an emergency appeal to donors of all sizes to support an emergency food appeal. She said they responded in a way “that allowed us to purchase almost 3 million tons of fruits and vegetables, shelf-stable milk, and distribute it to every Catholic Charity agency asking for that.”
She observed that today “we’re seeing an increase in anxiety around just the basics” and “to the extent that we can tell that story well, donors respond, Catholics and people of goodwill.”
Asked if the pope’s words on the “challenges” faced by Catholic Charities USA was a reference to the current socio-economic and political situation in the country, Ms. Robinson said: “I heard them in [that] light. I spend a lot of time with people who take care of the poor very seriously, and that work, while deeply meaningful, is hard because you are bearing witness to human suffering every day and there never seems to be enough resources to meet the plight of poor families and communities and individuals.”
“While it has not been particularly easy for any faith-based humanitarian organization in our geopolitical times in the world,” she said, speaking as president of Catholic Charities, on a more personal level she remarked: “I would say the thing that has anguished my heart the most is when there are nefarious, intentional mistruths or falsehoods spoken about the church’s ministry to poor and vulnerable people. It’s very hard in this era to combat willful, nefarious calumny. But I think the best way to do that is by knowing who we are, what we do and why we do it and tying our work very closely to the Gospel.”
Asked what she told the pope when she met him, she said, “I simply told him how much we are grateful for his words and how much encouragement and inspiration we take from his words to us and that we pray for him every day.”
Ms. Robinson was asked by one journalist if she is seeing “any uptick as a reaction to the Trump administration cuts and or what’s happening in Rome? Are they reacting to Trump? Are they happy that there’s an American with a Chicago accent as pope? How are you processing the last year, which has been a huge change, both church and state?”
She said, “the Catholic Charities USA office…is largely, almost entirely, privately funded…so we did not see cuts, but we exist to serve the 169 independent local diocesan Catholic Charities agencies.” The cuts they experienced, she said, were “across the ecosystem were largely in the space of refugee resettlement. However, I would say that most of our agencies were able to move some refugee staff into other ministries and services.” She said that Catholic Charities “lost about 450” employees, roughly 1 percent of the total full-time staff.
Ms. Robinson surprised the journalists by telling them: “I have never seen such unity in the Catholic Church [as there is today], and I’ve worked for the Catholic Church since I was 14.”
Asked if she was just referring to the past year since Pope Leo was elected on May 8, 2025, she responded, “Honestly, I think that this unity has been building for some time. I’ve been particularly aware of it in my two and a half years in this role at Catholic Charities USA. So [it is] predating the most recent presidential election and predating the new president of the U.S.C.C.B. as well.”
She said she saw growing evidence of this “unity” in “education, health care, our fraternal twin Catholic Relief Service, the bishops conference, Catholic College presidents and bishops themselves wanting to pray together, wanting to be in friendship together, spend time getting to know each other. A trust was building. And I think it was just a sense that these are uncharted times and the church’s prophetic message followed by concrete service is desperately needed. And we all need to be unified in that.”
As president of Catholic Charities, she said, “This is a moment in the United States where we feel enormously supported by Catholic bishops for all the work we do. And I think that they are speaking increasingly with a unified voice, reminding all Catholics and people of goodwill about the Gospel mandate to be merciful, and that you cannot separate authentic Christian life from care for and love of the poor. And they have been eloquent on defending human dignity in this moment, recognizing our common humanity, sowing the seeds of peace, being bridge builders, all of which we take very seriously and try to implement in practical ways.”
She finds strong encouragement coming both from the U.S. bishops and Pope Leo. The fact that Pope Leo is American “helps” she said. “He can’t be dismissed as being ignorant of the realities in the United States [as happened with Pope Francis]. And his words to bishops in the United States are spoken in their language. It’s very different when you are hearing the message without it being mediated through translation.”
She said she didn’t discuss the current situation in the United States with Pope Leo because “our time was entirely taken up as representing the men and women of Catholic charities throughout the country and the realities that they are enduring at this moment…. So we really didn’t speak about politics but rather were emboldened to continue in this work and to connect it deeply to the mandates of our faith. He really restricted his comments to this work of charity.”
She said that she presented the pope with a book called People of Hope. It contains 42 “faith-filled stories of neighbors helping neighbors” that “show the diversity of the ways we can be generous and merciful and serve people experiencing their hardest days, and it is truly breathtaking.” The scripts and portraits are taken from the People of Hope tractor-trailer Museum that began a three-year journey around the United States in March and will visit 150 communities to promote empathy and inspire visitors to find ways to serve those in need locally.
Ms. Robinson concluded, “We believe firmly that we are a faith-based Catholic ministry to poor people. And that we are serving people of all faiths, of all political backgrounds. We are in all 50 states. We don’t know where things are headed, but we know that we want to serve as many poor people as possible. And really, ideally, change structures of sin so that there aren’t as many poor people in the future.”
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