The Spanish Episcopal Conference has appointed economist Luis Ayala Cañón as the new president of Cáritas Española, the Church’s main welfare organization in Spain. The decision, approved by the Permanent Commission of the episcopate at the proposal of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Promotion, places at the head of one of the ecclesial institutions with the greatest public projection an economist who was part of the Advisory Council on Health and Social Services during the government of Pedro Sánchez and who has collaborated with various initiatives promoted from left-wing circles.
Ayala replaces Manuel Bretón Romero, president of Cáritas since 2017, and will assume the leadership of an organization that manages hundreds of millions of euros in social programs and whose voice has growing influence in the public debate on poverty, immigration, exclusion and welfare policies.
From the Government Advisory Council to the presidency of Cáritas
Luis Ayala was appointed in February 2019 as a member of the Social Services Section of the Advisory Council on Health and Social Services, an organ then under the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare. His appointment was published in the Official State Gazette alongside those of other specialists brought in by Pedro Sánchez’s government to advise on social policy matters.
His academic career has focused on the study of poverty, inequality and the welfare state, fields in which he has carried out intense research activity at the university.
Linked to reports and forums close to the PSOE
In addition to his time on the government’s advisory body, Ayala has maintained a regular presence in initiatives promoted by socialist circles. He has collaborated with the Fundación Alternativas, one of the main think tanks close to the PSOE, and was one of the coordinators of the FOESSA Foundation report on the evolution of social cohesion after the pandemic.
That study gained notable political attention by claiming that nearly one and a half million people were in a situation of social exclusion in the Community of Madrid. Its conclusions were used by the opposition against the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and were publicly rejected by the Madrid executive, which questioned both the figures and the interpretation made by the authors.
Various media outlets also placed Ayala among the economists summoned by Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz to take part in meetings held in 2022 with a group of experts tasked with providing economic and labor proposals amid the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
An appointment with clear ecclesial significance
Ayala’s election goes beyond the ordinary handover at the head of a welfare entity. In recent years Cáritas has become one of the organizations most frequently cited by political leaders and the media to support diagnoses on poverty, housing, immigration and social exclusion. Its reports are regularly used in public debate and its statements carry significant institutional weight.
For this reason, the profile of the new president is not irrelevant. The Episcopal Conference’s decision to entrust the presidency of Cáritas to an economist who has advised the socialist government and collaborated with initiatives linked to left-wing political circles will likely fuel debate about the orientation of an institution called to represent the Church’s charitable action.
The CEE avoids any political assessment
The Episcopal Conference has made no comment on the new president’s public trajectory or institutional collaborations. In the communiqué issued after his appointment, it limits itself to highlighting his academic qualifications and his experience in applied economics and social policy.
With this appointment, the bishops hand over the leadership of Cáritas to a profile widely recognized in the academic sphere, yet also identified by his participation in advisory bodies of Pedro Sánchez’s government and in projects promoted by sectors close to the PSOE. A decision that, given the institutional weight of Cáritas within the Spanish Church, is unlikely to go unnoticed.