Catholic charity leads relief after landslides kill Rohingya in Bangladesh
Landslides in Cox’s Bazar killed at least 20 people, affecting Rohingya refugee camps and surrounding host communities. Caritas Bangladesh mobilized staff and volunteers to give early warning, emergency shelter, WASH support, and dignity kits to affected households. The charity coordinated with government authorities and UN partners to assess needs and fill gaps in services. Caritas has operated in the camps for years, providing shelter, education, child protection and other assistance to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. .
3 months ago
The monsoon rains in late July 2026 triggered landslides that swept through Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, killing at least 20 people and displacing dozens more. Caritas Bangladesh, a Catholic charity, has mobilized staff, volunteers, and international partners to provide emergency shelter, water‑sanitation‑hygiene (WASH) services, and dignity kits while coordinating with government and UN agencies. The disaster underscores the long‑standing vulnerability of the nearly 1 million Rohingya who have lived in the region since the 2015 influx, a population previously visited by Pope Francis in 2017 and now under the pastoral care of Pope Leo XIV. 1 2
Heavy monsoon rains last week caused a series of landslides across the hilly, deforested terrain of the refugee settlements. At least 20 Rohingya were reported dead, and many families were forced to evacuate their makeshift shelters. 1
Caritas Bangladesh activated its Emergency Response Program, sending local staff and community volunteers door‑to‑door to issue early‑warning alerts and relocate families from high‑risk zones. The organization is delivering emergency shelters, WASH support, and dignity kits to affected households, while maintaining close communication with government authorities and United Nations sector partners to identify gaps in assistance. 1 2
The charity’s long‑term presence in the camps includes shelter repairs, tarpaulin distribution, child protection, education, and youth programs. Between 2017 and 2024, its shelter and settlement program reached an average of 38,335 households annually, operating 12 learning centers and two youth/adolescent centers that follow the Myanmar curriculum. 1
Rohingya refugees have fled persecution in Myanmar since the 1970s, with major influxes in the 1990s and a massive surge in 2017 that brought over half a million people to Cox’s Bazar. The United Nations has described the 2017 campaign as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” a claim contested by Myanmar in the International Court of Justice. By December 2023, almost one million Rohingya were living in 33 camps in the district. 2
Pope Francis visited the camps during his 2017 apostolic trip to Bangladesh, meeting Rohingya families. The current Pope Leo XIV, elected in 2025, continues the Church’s advocacy for the refugees, with Caritas Bangladesh acting as a key Catholic partner in relief and development efforts. 1
Evaluate Catholic humanitarian principles guiding Caritas’ response to Rohingya landslide crisis
Catholic humanitarian action—especially by an organization like Caritas—is evaluated not only by how quickly aid is delivered, but by whether it recognizes Christ in the suffering person, serves the common good through integral human promotion, and maintains a preferential love for the poor and vulnerable rather than a vague or purely “neutral” charity.
A core Catholic starting point is that God’s gifts (food, shelter, medical care, protection) are meant for all people, with a special claim on behalf of those whose condition most harms their growth—“the poor, the marginalized” and those whose living conditions “interfere with their proper growth.”
This is not merely a moral sentiment; it supports concrete humanitarian duties:
Catholic social teaching grounds Caritas’ response in the “preferential option for the poor.” The Compendium describes it as:
“a special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity” that affects both personal life and social responsibilities, including “logical decisions” about the ownership and use of goods.
Two clarifications are important for evaluation in a Rohingya landslide crisis context:
The Church’s preferential option is a moral criterion, not an ideology. Pope Francis stresses that it is:
So Caritas should evaluate its approach by asking: Are the most vulnerable receiving the priority they need—without being reduced to statistics or ignored due to nationality or ethnicity?
Pope Francis explicitly links preference for the poor with a response that “goes beyond necessary assistance” and calls for “walking together,” being “evangelised” by the poor’s wisdom and creativity.
Therefore, an effective Rohingya response should not end with short-term relief; it should begin building the conditions for safety, dignity, and a livable future.
Caritas’ work is not merely administrative “welfare.” Benedict XVI describes Caritas Internationalis as acting in the Church’s name for the common good and insists that charity witnesses to “the love of God,” which is “self-giving, even to the sacrifice of one’s life for others.”
From this, a fair evaluation asks whether Caritas’ presence:
A frequent risk in disasters is a false either/or: “emergency only” or “long-term only.” John Paul II explicitly rejects that split. He teaches that emergency help and assistance “keep their place” as necessary expressions of charity (like the Good Samaritan), but:
Applied to a landslide affecting Rohingya families, Catholic principles would evaluate Caritas’ response on whether it balances:
Paul VI similarly frames charity and development as requiring a commitment to reduce conditions incompatible with human dignity, while ensuring that the Church’s charity formation also educates consciences and promotes fraternity.
A distinctive Catholic point is that preferential option includes more than material help. Pope Leo XIV warns that the “worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care,” concluding:
This does not mean coercion or disrespect for conscience; it means that the poor’s exclusion includes being denied meaningful spiritual accompaniment. Pope Leo XIV also criticizes a “spiritual worldliness” that replaces effective concern with “empty talk.”
So, in evaluating Caritas’ humanitarian response, a Catholic criterion is whether it provides:
Caritas’ identity is ecclesial and international. Benedict XVI explains that the creation of Caritas Internationalis aimed to promote “communication, coordination and cooperation” among Church charitable agencies.
Caritas’ actions in complex crises should also reflect the Church’s wider judgment that it is “no longer possible” to design policies/programs limited to only one aspect of a problem; globalization and interdependence require comprehensive perspectives.
A Catholic evaluation of a Rohingya landslide response therefore checks whether Caritas:
Using the Church’s principles above, an assessment of Caritas’ response to a Rohingya landslide crisis should look for five marks:
In short: Catholic humanitarian principles guide Caritas to respond with urgent mercy while also working for integral recovery and dignity, grounded in the preferential option for the poor and carried out as a genuine ecclesial witness to the love of Christ.