For the first time a woman has been named to head the Catholic relief organization Caritas Internationalis.
Briton Lesley-Anne Knight was elected as the new Secretary General by the 400 delegates to the 18th Caritas General Assembly here, which winds up on Sunday.
Knight replaces Duncan MacLaren, who leaves office after eight years.
Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories.
Caritas works without regard to creed, race, gender, or ethnicity and is the largest Catholic and the second largest global aid network in the world.
Delegates elected Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga as the Caritas Internationalis chairman at the beginning of their week-long meeting which opened last Sunday.
Speaking after her election, Knight said "Caritas is a treasure. I look forward with great honour to the next four years at Caritas. The work we do here has a lasting impact on the lives of the poor, and I feel humbled to be given this responsibility by my brothers and sisters in the Caritas family".
"Our priorities will be to put humanitarian emergencies, integral human development and building sustainable peace at the heart of the work of the Confederation. Not as diverse pieces of work, but as all part of the same program that will help the poor transform their own lives," she added.
For the past three years, Knight, 51, was international director at Caritas England and Wales, where she managed over 200 staff and a 30-million-pound budget.
She has over 25 years experience working on development and humanitarian issues around the world.
Delegates to the assembly were received on Friday by Pope Benedict XVI.
