Scottish Catholic Observer

The Holy Father has urged the world to do more to help the hungry and starving.

“Perhaps we have paid too little heed to those who are hungry,” Pope Francis (above) said. “It is painful to see that the struggle against hunger and malnutrition is hindered by market priorities, the ‘primacy of profit’, which have reduced foodstuffs to a commodity like any other, subject to speculation, also of a financial nature.”

The Pope made the comments in an address at the Second International Conference on Nutrition at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation headquarters, in Rome, this morning.

He added that ‘while we speak of new rights, the hungry remain, at the street corner, and ask to be recognised as citizens, to receive a healthy diet.’

“We ask for dignity, not for charity,” he said.

“The work of international organisations must take into consideration the wish, so frequent among ordinary people, for respect for fundamental human rights and, in this case, the rights of the hungry.

“When this is achieved, then humanitarian intervention, emergency relief and development operations – in their truest, fullest sense—will attain greater momentum and bring the desired results.”

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