Pope Francis Speaks on Hunger

by Sister Suzanne Golas, CSJP
June 2016

On June 13, Pope Francis addressed the international community at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). The Pope emphasized that while communication technologies bring us face to face with so many tragic situations, this information overload is gradually leading to the "naturalization" of extreme poverty and hunger. "In other words," he says, "little by little we are growing immune to other people's tragedies, seeing them as something 'natural'.... We cannot 'naturalize' that so many people are starving."

The reality is, Pope Francis reminds us, there is enough food for everyone. However not everyone can eat because of waste, excessive consumption of some and the use of food for other purposes. Many people suffer from hunger because of selfish and wrong distribution of resources and the "merchandizing" of food.

The earth, abused and exploited, continues in many parts of the world to yield its fruits, offering us the best of itself. The faces of the starving remind us that we have foiled its purpose. We have turned a gift with a universal destination into a privilege enjoyed by a select few.

Pope Francis criticizes societies that are so immersed in a consumerism that accustoms people to excess and the daily waste of food. "We need to be reminded that food discarded is, in a certain sense, stolen from the table of poor and the starving."

Speaking of the connection between hunger and war, Pope Francis challenges bureaucratic structures that allow weapons to enter conflict zones more easily than food. "As a result, wars are fed, not persons."

The Pope praises the UN's World Food Programme and encourages those involved as he urges them to "Move forward. Do not grow weary or let problems dissuade you. Believe in what you are doing and pursue it enthusiastically. That is how the seed of generosity grows and bears abundant fruit."