Monsignor Robert J Vitillo and Cardinal Czerny will headline the FHA Conference “Accompanying the Journey of a Refugee,” an event that will take place both in Seville (Spain) and online. They both have extensive experience working with and advocating for refugees, internally displaced people, and human trafficking victims.

Monsignor Robert J. Vitillo has been the Secretary General of the International Catholic Migration Commission since June 2016. A national of the United States of America, Msgr. Vitillo is a trained social worker with broad expertise in migration and refugee services, child protection, social services, human rights, HIV/AIDS and global health. He has served in Catholic Church-related charitable agencies at local, national, and global levels.

Cardinal Czerny is a Czechoslovakian-born Canadian Catholic Priest, whose work in Canada, Latin America, Africa and Rome has focused on serving faith and promoting social justice. In 2016, Pope Francis appointed him Co-Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He was appointed Cardinal Deacon and protector of the Church of San Michele Arcangelo, Rome, in October 2019.

The FHA hopes that through their key-note speeches, alongside panels and workshops from experts and refugees and trafficked persons themselves, and visits to local Vincentian projects supporting these groups, it will inspire a community of Vincentian practitioners who can locally and globally collaborate to help vulnerable people through advocacy and concrete actions.

The Conference wants to offer Vincentians supporting refugees, internally displaced people, and Vincentian branches accompanying these groups the chance to connect, foster initiatives within and beyond the Family and improve Vincentian services worldwide. It was originally planned for 2020 but the Covid pandemic forced the postponement and its conversion into a hybrid event.

Source:Vincentian Homeless Alliance