Caritas Hellas

Caritas Hellas (Greek: Κάριτας Ελλάς) is a not-for-profit social welfare and humanitarian organisation in Greece. It is a service of the Catholic Church in Greece and a member of both Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis.

Between 1941 and 1980, Theia Pronoia (Greek: Η Θεία Πρόνοια; "The Divine Providence"), a charitable organisation of the Greek Catholic Exarchate, was the only structured social arm of the Catholic Church in Greece. It was also the Greek member of the Caritas Internationalis confederation. Between 1976 and 1980, first steps were undertaken to coordinate and organise the Catholic charitable work at a national level. In May 1980, the Greek episcopal conference founded Caritas Hellas and recognised it as the official organisation responsible for the Church's ministry of charity on a parish, diocesan and national level.

Caritas Hellas has been existing in its current form since 1994, when it adopted its legal statutes and was registered as a non-profit NGO with the Greek State.

Caritas Hellas follows the structure of the Catholic Church in Greece. The organisations consists of a national organisation (Caritas Hellas) and 11 local Caritas organisations. Every Caritas organisation is an autonomous organisation. The national office is based in Athens.

The local Caritas structures coordinate the activities of Caritas organisations in the territory that they are responsible for, mostly a specific dioceses. They also provide services, but at a smaller scale.

The 11 local structures of Caritas Hellas are:

In addition, there are also some small Caritas organisations at parish level.

Between 2013 and 2021, Caritas Hellas supported more than half a million people through its various programmes.