Catholic Church

===Social services===
{{Main|Catholic Church and health care|Catholic school|l2=Catholic education}}
[[File:MotherTeresa 090.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Saint [[Mother Teresa|Teresa]] of Calcutta advocated for the sick, the poor and the needy by practising the acts of [[corporal works of mercy]].]]

The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world.<ref name=Geopolitics/> In 2010, the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers said that the church manages 26% of health care facilities in the world, including hospitals, clinics, orphanages, pharmacies and centres for those with leprosy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic_hospitals_represent_26_percent_of_worlds_health_facilities_reports_pontifical_council/|title=Catholic hospitals comprise one quarter of world's healthcare, council reports|publisher=Catholic News Agency |date=10 February 2010|access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref>

The church has always been involved in education, since the founding of the [[Medieval university|first universities]] of Europe.<ref name="auto"/> It runs and sponsors thousands of primary and secondary schools, [[Catholic higher education|colleges and universities]] throughout the world<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catholic-education/upload/2013-By-the-Numbers-Catholic-Education.pdf|title=Catholic Education}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Laudato Si|journal=Vermont Catholic|volume=8|issue=4, ''2016–2017, Winter''|page=73|url=http://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/index.php?i=365491&m=&l=&p=1&pre=&ver=html5#{%22page%22:74,%22issue_id%22:365491}|access-date=19 December 2016}}</ref> and operates the world's largest non-governmental school system.<ref>{{citation|last1=Gardner|first1=Roy|first2=Denis|last2=Lawton|first3=Jo|last3=Cairns|title=Faith Schools|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|page=148|isbn=978-0-415-33526-3}}</ref>

Religious institutes for women have played a particularly prominent role in the provision of health and education services,<ref name="nunsworldwide">{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/663/nuns_worldwide.aspx|title=Nuns Worldwide|first=J. J.|last=Zieglera|date=12 May 2012|publisher=Catholic World Report}}</ref> as with orders such as the [[Sisters of Mercy]], [[Little Sisters of the Poor]], the Missionaries of Charity, the [[Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart]], the [[Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament]] and the [[Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vocations.com/womenrel.html|title=Vocations Online Internet Directory of Women's Religious Communities|date=2010|publisher=[[Joliet Diocese]] Vocation Office|access-date=14 June 2018|archive-date=10 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910114541/http://www.vocations.com/womenrel.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Catholic nun [[Mother Teresa]] of [[Calcutta, India]], founder of the Missionaries of Charity, was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html|title=Press Release – The Nobel Peace Prize 1979|publisher=Nobelprize.org|date=27 October 1979|access-date=28 October 2010}}</ref> Bishop [[Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo]] won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in [[East Timor]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1996/press.html|title=Press Release – Nobel Peace Prize 1996|publisher=Nobelprize.org|date=11 October 1996|access-date=28 October 2010}}</ref>

The church is also actively engaged in international aid and development through organizations such as [[Catholic Relief Services]], [[Caritas International]], [[Aid to the Church in Need]], refugee advocacy groups such as the [[Jesuit Refugee Service]] and community aid groups such as the [[Saint Vincent de Paul Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cpn.nd.edu/resources-for-scholars-clergy-and-practitioners/international-catholic-peacebuilding-organizations/|title=International Catholic Peacebuilding Organisations (directory)|publisher=Catholic Peacebuilding Network|location=Notre Dame, IN|date=2015|access-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403084409/http://cpn.nd.edu/resources-for-scholars-clergy-and-practitioners/international-catholic-peacebuilding-organizations/|archive-date=3 April 2015}}</ref>