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April 24, 2020 An average increase of 114% in the number of new people who turn to the listening centers and services of the diocesan Caritas compared to the coronavirus pre-emergency period. This is the alarming figure that results from a first survey conducted at national level on 70 diocesan Caritas throughout Italy, about a third of the total. Caritas Italia reports it. 

In almost all cases, diocesan Caritas show an increase in reports of employment / work and economic problems. 75.7% of them also report an increase in family problems, 62.8% of educational problems, 60% of health, also in terms of psychological and psychological distress, and in housing terms. new needs, such as those related to problems of solitude, relationships, also with conflicting implications, anxieties and fears, disorientation and misinformation.

At the same time, there has been an increase compared to requests for material goods and services, in particular food and basic necessities, with the distribution of takeaway / home meals, subsidies and financial aids to support spending or paying bills. and rents, social assistance, work and accommodation.

There is also a growing demand for guidance regarding access to support measures, first of all public, put in place to face the health emergency, help in completing these questions and the request for personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc. ), which have already been distributed to around 40,000 beneficiaries. 

 "In the face of these data - declares Don Francesco Soddu, Director of Caritas Italiana - and on the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Italy from Nazi fascism, which was the basis for a moral and social redemption of Italy in the post-war period, we recall the exhortation of the Second Vatican Council to the freedom and dignity of every needy person: 'Let it not happen that what is already due as a justice is offered as a gift of charity. #IoRestoLibero, a national event that supports the Red Cross and Caritas Italiana with a fundraiser through the GoFundMe platform.