Catholic charity Caritas said Tuesday that it has never had to help so many people in Italy as it is helping at the moment in its annual report on poverty.

It said it provided assistance to 282,539 people last year, an increase of 1.7% with respect to 2024, according to data from 206 dioceses.

The report said 52% of the people given assistance were from households with children under 18.

It said it helped 24,000 people homeless people and many more who had serious trouble paying rent and bills.

Caritas Italiana Director Don Marco Pagniello said in-work poverty was a major issue and argued it was time for Italy to consider introducing a minimum wage.

“In-work poverty is killing young people’s dreams,” he said.

Caritas italiana President Monsignor Benoni Ambarus said that if there is money to invest in defence, there should be money to fight poverty too.

“If the conditions exist to revive the issue of rearmament — and, in my opinion, it’s dangerous —there must be room to strengthen human dignity,” Ambarus said.

“We are not a truly dignified, civilized society if we find money for weapons but not for humanity”.