Pope calls for military spending to be converted into investments to combat hunger
"Let us reject the logic of arms and transform enormous military expenditure into investments to combat hunger!" urged Pope Francis.
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Pope Francis on Wednesday called for “enormous military spending” to be converted into investments to combat world hunger, in a message on social media to mark World Food Day.
“In war, the worst side of man emerges: selfishness, violence, lies. Let us reject the logic of weapons and transform the enormous military expenditure into investments to combat hunger, the lack of health care and education!” he wrote in X.
Francis also sent a message to the director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Qu Dongyu, who is holding its ‘World Food Forum’ until next Friday.
In the message, read by the Vatican representative to that institution, Fernando Chica Arellano, the Pope points out that international political and economic leaders must listen to “the demands of those at the bottom of the food chain, such as small farmers.”
“Let us never postpone the real listening to the needs that come from below, from workers and farmers, from the poor and hungry, and from those who live with difficulties in isolated rural areas,” the pontiff said.
FAO Forum
The FAO forum will discuss sustainable agri-food systems to ensure the right to food in the future, something that the Pope described as “a priority, since it satisfies one of the basic needs of human beings, that is, to eat in order to live in accordance with adequate qualitative and quantitative standards, which guarantee the dignified existence of the human person.”
Bergoglio agreed with the FAO, which seeks “a transformation of food systems that takes into account the plurality and variety of nutritious, affordable, healthy and sustainable foods as a means to achieve food security and healthy diets for all.”
“Strong solutions to address and resolve the food problems of our time require that we consider the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity as the foundations of our development programmes and projects,” he said.
The Pope urgently called for “effective measures to lead a better life, acting together, animated by the same spirit of brotherhood and knowing that this planet that God has given us must be a garden open to peaceful coexistence.”
