VATICAN-UN ‘To combat hunger, listen to small farmers and families’

Message from Pope Francis on World Food Day: the Church will continue to make its contribution so that the painful scourge of misery and hunger in the world is definitively defeated.

Vatican City () – “International political and economic leaders must listen to the demands of those at the bottom of the food chain, such as small farmers, and of intermediate social formations, such as the family, which are directly involved in food of the people,” says Pope Francis in a message addressed to Qu Dongyu, director general of the FAO, the UN agency that deals with food and agriculture, on the occasion of World Food Day, which is celebrated today. . The right to food is, in fact, “a priority” – observes the Pontiff in the text read by Mons. Fernando Chica Arellano, permanent observer of the Holy See at the FAO, at the meeting of the World Food Forum that took place develops in Rome – since it satisfies one of the basic needs of human beings. However, we see that this right is often undermined and not applied fairly, with the harmful consequences that this entails.”

“Energetic solutions to confront and resolve the food problems of our time – explains Francesco – require that we consider the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity as the foundations of our development programs and projects, so that truly listening to the needs that come is never postponed. from below, of the workers and farmers, of the poor and hungry, and of those who live with difficulties in isolated rural areas.

To today’s humanity – “wounded by so many injustices” – the Pope once again points out the “paradigm of integral ecology, so that the needs of each person and the whole person are taken into account” and “their dignity is protected in relationships with others and in close connection with the care of creation. Only if we take the ideal of justice as a guide for our action can we satisfy the needs of people. But above all, this requires that “we allow ourselves to be challenged and moved by the condition of the other and that solidarity becomes the foundation of our decisions.” In this way, “the protection of future generations will go hand in hand with listening to and acting in favor of the demands of present generations, through an intra- and intergenerational alliance that calls us all to fraternity and gives a new meaning , more authentic, to international cooperation”.

On this path – the Pope concludes – the FAO “will count on the encouragement of the Holy See and the Catholic Church, which do not cease to offer their tenacious contribution so that everyone can have food in adequate quantity and quality for themselves and for their families, so that each person can lead a dignified life and so that the painful scourge of misery and hunger in the world is definitively defeated.