TRÓCAIRE last night confirmed it is "not affected" by the decision of Pope Francis to fire the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide charity arm.
The surprise move by the pontiff involves the executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organisations working in more 200 countries.
The sackings of the executive level of CI, which has more than a million staff and volunteers around the world, was revealed in a Papal decree released by the Vatican press office yesterday.
A press release said an independent review found deficiencies in Caritas Internationalis’ "management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale".
A commissioner has now been appointed to run it until new executives are elected.
But Caritas Ireland, which is established under the name Trócaire, last night said it is not affected by the announcement.
"Trócaire, as the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, is a member of the global Caritas Internationalis network," a spokesman said.
"Trócaire is entirely independent of and governed separately from Caritas Internationalis. Trócaire is not affected by this decision of the Vatican."
Trócaire was founded in 1973 as the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland and was given a dual mandate - to alleviate poverty and injustice abroad and to educate people at home about the structural causes of poverty.
