Pope Francis on World Food Day: the hungry are people and not numbers

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis says in order to defeat global hunger we need to change our development policies and the global trade rules and end speculation in the name of the “god of profit”.  His comments came in a message sent to Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, marking World Food Day on October 16th, 2014.

Quoting from his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope denounced in his message “the huge amount of food wasted” in our world and the speculation on food prices in the name of “the god of profit.”  He said it must be borne in mind that those suffering from hunger and malnutrition “are people and not numbers” and their human dignity comes before any economic calculation.

Read an overview of the speech from Vatican Radio.