Father Carlos S.

Pozzo
Biography
Father Carlos S. Pozzo, SJ, founder of CIRCA (Social
Catholic Circles of Arequipa), was born in Italy in 1918
in a small town 10 km from Genoa (Italy), called
Bogliasco. His family, although poor, was very religious,
which led him to enter the Seminary in primary school.

emigrated to Peru in 1936. He worked in various

businesses before entering the Jesuit novitiate in
1946. He returned to Peru in 1959 and founded the
"Acción Social" lay movement and later CIRCA, which
committed itself to social work in the towns Arequipa
youth.
That first group of lay people from Acción Social
and other new groups continue to work up to now
in that same work of a popular nature in the young
towns or marginal areas of Arequipa through soup
kitchens, departments for mothers and workers'
circles, and almost 5,000 houses built.

He died in 2008 in Lima and his remains

rest in the crypt of the Nuestra Señora de
las Maravillas chapel in Arequipa.
THANKS!