The Honorary President of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, has highly commended a DHI partner charity that cares for Romanian orphans, and has accepted an invitation to visit the organisation in Timisoara.
Speaking at a meeting in Rome with Ligia Iunia Dugulescu, President of Jesus Hope of Romania (JHOR), Cardinal Martino said: “The invaluable care and deep compassion that Jesus Hope of Romania offers the many orphans in that country is outstanding, so when I was kindly invited to visit there later this year, I didn’t hesitate to accept.””When I was apostolic nuncio to Thailand many years ago, I visited many such camps and homes, so I am aware of the very important work these institutions do in upholding human dignity,” Cardinal Martino said. “As the Bible teaches us: we must care for widows and orphans who are some of society’s most vulnerable – it is the hallmark of a Christian and a powerful sign of Jesus’s love.”
Since retiring as President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2009, one of the Cardinal’s priorities has been helping to provide assistance to children in poverty.
Dugulescu said the Cardinal’s visit would be “a great blessing” for the charity which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and would help draw valuable attention to the plight of orphans in Romania. “We are thrilled that His Eminence will be visiting and able to see for himself the situation facing orphaned children in our country.”
Founded by Dugulescu’s father, Pastor Petru Dugulescu, on 23rd December 1992, Jesus Hope of Romania was one of the first charities to grow out of the ashes of Communist atheist Romania. Thousands of orphans were left homeless and in dire poverty after the collapse of the Ceausescu regime. The legalization of abortion that followed also led to the killing of millions of unborn children.
JHOR’s Onesimus Brother’s House has become a providential refuge for many orphans. In addition, the organisation’s Betany House and Manna Project care for the poor, the homeless and the elderly.
The Institute’s Executive Vice-President, Theresa Creel, has forged close ties with JHOR over the past ten years. Speaking at the same meeting with the Cardinal and Dugulescu, Creel said the charity’s care and compassion is a “powerful, practical manifestation of what we at the Dignitatis Humanae Institute are all about: ensuring that the infinite dignity of every single person, each made in the image and likeness of God, is fully recognised, and then acted on with love.”
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