MESSAGE TO THE U.N.
By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — The international community must not remain resigned to the plight of those suffering hunger and malnutrition, which is often caused by indifference and selfishness, Pope Francis said.
In a message to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization conference July 3, the pope said wars, terrorism and forced displacements are not “inevitable but rather the consequence of concrete decisions” that have led to the lack of food and adequate nutrition to the helpless.
“We are dealing with a complex mechanism that mainly burdens the most vulnerable, who are not only excluded from the processes of production, but frequently obliged to leave their lands in search of refuge and hope,” the pope said in the message read to the conference by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
The Vatican published the message July 3.
Cardinal Parolin also told participants that Pope Francis would visit the FAO headquarters in Rome Oct. 16 to attend a conference on World Food Day on the theme “Changing the future of migration.”
In his message, the pope expressed the Holy See’s desire to help the international community “promote not mere progress or development goals in theory, but rather the actual elimination of hunger and malnutrition.”
“All of us realize that the intention to provide everyone with his or her daily bread is not enough. Rather, there is a need to recognize that all have a right to it and they must, therefore, benefit from it,” he said.