The Archdiocese of Bogotá (Colombia) served more than 37,000 people in a state of vulnerability during 2023, according to the report of the Diakonia for Integral Human Development.
The Diakonia for Integral Human Development “has as its fundamental task to contribute to the development of all people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable in the city – region of Bogotá, recognizing their dignity as children of God,” it states in its report.
In that sense, in a note published in El Catolicismo, the Archdiocese of Bogotá highlights that the work carried out last year responds to the “call of Pope Francis to be an outgoing, missionary Church that, like the Good Samaritan, approaches, “It recognizes and welcomes human realities, providing spiritual and material shelter.”
During 2023, the local Church “sought to strengthen its pastoral and evangelizing action” from this Diakonia “which involves caring for children, young people, adults and older people in vulnerable conditions.”
One of these cases has been the work carried out between February and November by Casa La Esperanza, which “welcomed 140 women” of low resources who, from different parts of the country, arrived in the Colombian capital “for medical treatments for themselves or someone.” familiar” “In the house they were provided with food, lodging, laundry service, psychosocial and spiritual support,” the text highlights.
Likewise, through the Brother Ettore Home for the Elderly, the Archdiocese houses “16 elderly women, in conditions of poverty and abandonment.” During the past year, the Church in Bogotá also provided “on Saturdays an average of 200 lunches, and on Sundays around 350 breakfasts to homeless people and people with limited resources, in the Las Cruces sector,” an area with great economic need. and social care.
The report also mentions the actions carried out to help people affected by drugs, accompany pregnant adolescents “in vulnerable situations” and provide “human and spiritual accompaniment” to minors.
Likewise, through the Archdiocesan Penitentiary Pastoral, “more than 19 thousand people deprived of liberty in penitentiary centers were accompanied, spiritually and materially,” as well as their families.
Regarding care for migrants, the Migrant Care Foundation helped Colombian citizens and foreigners affected by displacement with “food, accommodation, legal and psychosocial advice, training in productive projects, among other aspects.”
In addition, “work continues on the projection of the archdiocesan educational system” of the educational ministry and that “involves 15 thousand students and their families, in addition to the teaching and administrative staff.”