Brussels, 17 September 2009 - Caritas Europa (CE) President, Fr. Erny Gillen, met with senior leaders of the major religious communities in the Caucasus this week in an effort to promote the plight of the poor and clarify the role of Caritas in a region plagued by conflict and poverty and where Catholics constitute a minority of the population.

Accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio to the region, Msgr. Claudio Gugerotti and leading a delegation of member organizations from France and Georgia, as well as the CE Secretariat in Brussels, Fr. Gillen sought to reach out to Azerbaijan’s religious and government officials with a message of engagement and reassurance to the region’s predominately Islamic and Eastern Orthodox leaders.

At the residence of the Caucasus’ most influential Islamic leader, Sheik Haci Allahsukur Pasazade, Fr. Gillen outlined Caritas mission in the region and the predominately Muslim country of Azerbaijan. “We are not here to try to ‘buy souls’ through our humanitarian endeavors,” he said. “We are here to reach out to all Azerbaijanis, with the Holy Father’s message of love, as expressed in the papal encyclicals Deus Caritas Est and Caritas in Veritae.”