[2] CNEWA operates specifically in areas of concentrated mass poverty, war, and displacement, providing human dignity and addressing basic needs for vulnerable populations.

CNEWA has held a presence in areas that have been recently volatile, such as Syria, Iraq and Palestine, and its operations respond rapidly to the constantly-shifting needs of the people.

[citation needed] In 1924, a dynamic Irish chaplain who had served British troops during World War I, Monsignor Richard Barry-Doyle arrived in New York at the behest of Father Paul Wattson, a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, who enlisted the priest to raise funds for the humanitarian activities of Greek Catholic Bishop George Calavassy, the apostolic exarch in Constantinople.

[10] Temporary emergency operations continued as the region only further destabilized, while CNEWA expanded to Lebanon and Iraq in response to their own respective national crises.

[12] In 2020 Monsignor Peter I. Vaccari was appointed by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, Chair and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of CNEWA/PMP, as the president of CNEWA and the Pontifical Mission for Palestine (PMP), succeeding Msgr.

[14] CNEWA's mission states that it exists to "build up the church, affirm human dignity, alleviate poverty, encourage dialogue — and inspire hope.

[18] CNEWA helps provide emergency relief, such as food packages, bedding, first aid, and sanitary kits for areas impacted by warfare, social upheaval, or natural disaster.

[citation needed] The Mission became the Holy See's relief and development agency for Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

Unfortunately such a state of affairs has produced in many Palestinians a sense of frustration and, in some, such anguish and desperation as to move them to acts of violent protest which with sorrow we have been constrained strenuously to deplore.

It seems to us, nevertheless, that this is the moment for all Palestinians to look to the future with a constructive, like-minded and responsible attitude, as the hope becomes ever stronger that their particular problems will be them will be found during the peace in the Middle East.

CNEWA has an active role in providing aid during droughts and bad harvests, as well as mudslides, and has led efforts in the educational field in Ethiopia and beyond.

[26] As of February 2024, CNEWA allocated $5.8 million in emergency funds over the past year to support church-led relief efforts in Ukraine and neighboring countries accommodating individuals displaced by the conflict.