Leo XIV participated on October 16 in the headquarters of the FAO, in Rome, on the occasion of World Food Day, delivering a speech in which he denounced the persistence of hunger in the world as an intolerable “scandal”.
According to the data cited by the Pontiff, more than 673 million people go to bed every night without eating and 2.3 billion lack an adequate diet. He also condemned the use of hunger as a weapon of war, recalling that the United Nations Security Council has already qualified it as a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
With vehemence, the Pope asked States and international organizations to abandon solemn speeches and move to action:
“At five years from the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda, we must remember that achieving Zero Hunger will only be possible if there is a real will for it, and not merely solemn declarations.”
The insistence on the 2030 Agenda
It is striking that the Pope frames his denunciation within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, a United Nations political project that, along with legitimate goals such as the fight against poverty, also includes proposals contrary to the Gospel, such as “reproductive health” that opens the door to abortion or gender ideology.
Hunger is a real drama and the Church has the moral authority to denounce it from Catholic social doctrine. However, subordinating this denunciation to the 2030 Agenda runs the risk of presenting the Church’s prophetic mission as part of an international political plan, thus diluting the force of the Gospel in technocratic language.
The closing with Christ
Nevertheless, the speech concluded by recalling Jesus Christ and his command to the disciples before the hungry multitude: “You give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37). The Pope stated that with the disciples’ small contribution, the Lord worked a miracle, and asked not to tire of asking God for the courage and energy to continue working for lasting justice.
«Hunger has many faces and weighs on the entire human family. Every human being is hungry not only for bread, but also for everything that allows maturation and growth toward the happiness for which we have all been created. There is hunger for faith, hope, and love, which must be channeled into the integral response that we are called to give together. What Jesus said to his disciples when faced with a hungry multitude remains an urgent challenge for the international community: “You give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37). With the disciples’ small contribution, Jesus performed a great miracle.»
This closing, which returns the Gospel to the centrality of the message, shows the true horizon of the Church: human programs are not enough, but it is Christ who multiplies the bread and gives himself as Bread of Life.
We leave below the full message of Leo XIV:
Mr. Director General,
distinguished Authorities,
Excellencies,
ladies and gentlemen:
1. Allow me, first of all, to express my most cordial thanks for the invitation to share this memorable day with all of you. I visit this prestigious headquarters following the example of my Predecessors on the Chair of Peter, who granted the FAO special esteem and closeness, aware of the relevant mandate of this international organization.
I greet all those present with great respect and deference, and through you, as a servant of the Gospel, I express to all the peoples of the earth my most fervent desire that peace reign everywhere. The heart of the Pope, which does not belong to himself but to the Church and, in a certain way, to all humanity, keeps alive the confidence that, if hunger is defeated, peace will be the fertile ground from which the common good of all nations will be born.
On the eightieth anniversary of the establishment of the FAO, our conscience must once again challenge us in the face of the ever-present drama of hunger and malnutrition. Ending these evils is not only the responsibility of entrepreneurs, officials, or political leaders. It is a problem whose solution we all must contribute to: international agencies, governments, public institutions, NGOs, academic entities, and civil society, not forgetting each individual person, who must see in the suffering of others something of their own. Whoever suffers from hunger is not a stranger. He is my brother and I must help him without delay.
2. The goal that brings us together now is as noble as it is unavoidable: to mobilize all available energy, in a spirit of solidarity, so that in the world there is no one who lacks the necessary food, both in quantity and quality. In this way, an end will be put to a situation that denies human dignity, compromises desirable development, unjustly forces crowds of people to abandon their homes, and hinders understanding among peoples. Since its foundation, the FAO has tirelessly oriented its service so that the development of agriculture and food security are priority objectives of international policy. In this sense, five years from the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda, we must emphatically remember that achieving Zero Hunger will only be possible if there is a real will for it, and not merely solemn declarations. For this very reason, with renewed urgency, today we are called to respond to a fundamental question: where are we in the action against the plague of hunger that continues to atrociously scourge a significant part of humanity?
3. It is necessary, and deeply sad, to mention that, despite technological, scientific, and productive advances, six hundred seventy-three million people in the world go to bed without eating. And another two thousand three hundred million cannot afford nutritionally adequate food. These are figures that we cannot regard as mere statistics: behind each of those numbers there is a truncated life, a vulnerable community; there are mothers who cannot feed their children. Perhaps the most moving fact is that of children suffering from malnutrition, with consequent illnesses and delays in motor and cognitive growth. This is not a coincidence, but the evident sign of a prevailing insensitivity, of an economy without a soul, of a questionable model of development, and of an unjust and unsustainable system of resource distribution. In a time when science has extended life expectancy, technology has brought continents closer, and knowledge has opened unimaginable horizons, allowing millions of human beings to live—and die—stricken by hunger is a collective failure, an ethical deviation, a historical guilt.
4. The scenarios of current conflicts have revived the use of food as a weapon of war, contradicting all the sensitization work carried out by the FAO during these eight decades. It seems increasingly distant that consensus expressed by States that considers deliberate starvation a war crime, as well as intentionally preventing access to food for entire communities or peoples. International humanitarian law prohibits without exception attacks on civilians and goods essential for the survival of populations. A few years ago, the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned this practice, recognizing the connection between armed conflicts and food insecurity, and stigmatizing the use of hunger inflicted on civilians as a method of war
[1]. This seems forgotten, for, with pain, we are witnesses to the continued use of that cruel strategy, which condemns men, women, and children to hunger, denying them the most elementary right: the right to life. However, the silence of those who die of hunger cries out in the conscience of all, although it is often ignored, silenced, or distorted. We cannot continue like this, since hunger is not man’s destiny but his perdition. Let us therefore strengthen our enthusiasm to remedy this scandal! Let us not stop thinking that hunger is only a problem to solve. It is more. It is a cry that rises to heaven and requires the swift response of every nation, every international organization, every regional, local, or private instance. No one can remain on the sidelines in the strenuous fight against hunger. That battle is everyone’s.
5. Excellencies, today we witness outrageous paradoxes. How can we continue to tolerate the waste of enormous tons of food while crowds of people toil to find in the garbage something to put in their mouths? How to explain the inequalities that allow a few to have everything and many to have nothing? How not to immediately stop the wars that destroy fields before cities, even reaching scenes unworthy of the human condition, in which people’s lives, and particularly children’s, instead of being cared for, fade away while they go in search of food with skin clinging to their bones? Contemplating the current world panorama, so painful and desolate due to the conflicts that afflict it, it gives the impression that we have become apathetic witnesses to a harrowing violence, when, in reality, the well-known humanitarian tragedies should urge us to be artisans of peace equipped with the healing balm that the open wounds in the very heart of humanity require. A bleeding that should immediately attract our attention and lead us to redouble our individual and collective responsibility, awakening us from the unfortunate lethargy in which we are often immersed. The world cannot continue to witness such macabre spectacles as those taking place in numerous regions of the earth. They must be brought to an end as soon as possible.
The time has come, therefore, to ask ourselves with lucidity and courage: do future generations deserve a world that is not capable of eradicating hunger and misery once and for all? Is it possible that so many and such lacerating arbitrariness that negatively mark the human family cannot be ended? Can political and social leaders continue to be polarized, spending time and resources on useless and virulent discussions, while those they should serve remain forgotten and used for partisan interests? We cannot limit ourselves to proclaiming values. We must embody them. Slogans do not lift out of misery. There is an urgent need to overcome such an entrenched political paradigm, based on an ethical vision that prevails over the prevailing pragmatism that replaces the person with profit. It is not enough to invoke solidarity: we must guarantee food security, access to resources, and sustainable rural development.
6. In this sense, it seems to me a true success that the World Food Day is celebrated this year under the motto: “Hand in hand for better food and a better future”. In a historical moment marked by deep divisions and contradictions, feeling united by the bond of collaboration is not only a beautiful ideal, but a determined call to action. We must not content ourselves with filling walls with large and eye-catching posters. The time has come to assume a renewed commitment that positively impacts the lives of those who have empty stomachs and expect concrete gestures from us to pull them out of their prostration. Such a goal can only be achieved through the convergence of effective policies and a coordinated and synergistic implementation of interventions. The exhortation to walk together, in fraternal concord, must become the guiding principle that orients policies and investments, because only through sincere and constant cooperation can a just and accessible food security for all be built. Only by joining our hands can we build a dignified future, in which food security is reaffirmed as a right and not as a privilege. With this conviction, I would like to highlight that, in the fight against hunger and the promotion of integral development, the role of women is configured as indispensable, although not always sufficiently appreciated. Women are the first to watch over the missing bread, to sow hope in the furrows of the earth, to knead the future with calloused hands from effort. In every corner of the world, woman is the silent architect of survival, methodical guardian of creation. Recognizing and valuing her role is not only a matter of justice, it is a guarantee of more human and more lasting food.
7. Excellencies, knowing the projection of this international forum, allow me to underscore without ambiguity the importance of multilateralism in the face of harmful temptations that tend to establish themselves as autocratic in a multipolar and increasingly interconnected world. It is therefore more necessary than ever to boldly rethink the modalities of international cooperation. It is not only about identifying strategies or conducting detailed diagnoses. What the poorest countries await with hope is that their voice be heard without filters, that their real needs be truly known, and that an opportunity be offered to them, so that they are counted on when solving their real problems, without imposing solutions manufactured in distant offices, in meetings dominated by ideologies that often ignore ancestral cultures, religious traditions, or customs deeply rooted in the wisdom of the elders. It is imperative to build a vision that allows every actor on the international scene to respond more effectively and promptly to the genuine needs of those we are called to serve through our daily commitment.
8. Today, we can no longer deceive ourselves into thinking that the consequences of our failures only affect those hidden from our sight. The hungry faces of so many people who still suffer challenge us and invite us to reexamine our lifestyles, our priorities, and our general way of living in the current world. For this very reason, I want to call the attention of this international forum to the multitudes who lack access to drinking water, food, essential medical care, decent housing, basic education, or dignified work, so that we can share the pain of those who only feed on desperation, tears, and misery. How not to remember all those who are condemned to death and suffering in Ukraine, Gaza, Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic, Yemen, and South Sudan, to name only a few places on the planet where poverty has become the daily bread of so many of our brothers and sisters? The international community cannot look the other way. We must make their suffering our own.
We cannot aspire to a more just social life if we are not willing to rid ourselves of the apathy that justifies hunger as if it were background music to which we have grown accustomed, a problem without solution, or simply the responsibility of others. We cannot demand that others act if we ourselves do not fulfill our own commitments. With our omission, we become accomplices in the promotion of injustice. We cannot expect a better world, a bright and peaceful future, if we are not willing to share what we ourselves have received. Only then can we affirm, with truth and courage, that no one has been left behind.
9. I invoke upon all those gathered here—the FAO and its officials, who strive every day to fulfill their responsibilities with virtue and set an example—the blessings of God, who cares for the poor, the hungry, and the destitute. May God renew in each of us that hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). The challenges before us are immense, but so are our potential and the possible paths of action. Hunger has many names and weighs on the entire human family. Every human being is hungry not only for bread, but also for everything that allows him to mature and grow toward the happiness for which we have all been created. There is a hunger for faith, hope, and love that must be channeled into the integral response that we are called to carry out together. What Jesus said to his disciples when they faced a hungry multitude remains a key and urgent challenge for the international community: “You give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37). With the disciples’ small contribution, Jesus performed a great miracle. Do not tire, therefore, of asking God today for the courage and energy to continue working for a justice that produces lasting and beneficial results. In your efforts, you can always count on the solidarity and commitment of the Holy See and the institutions of the Catholic Church, which are ready to go out to meet and serve the poorest and most disadvantaged throughout the world.
Thank you very much.