Pope Leo XIV issued a fierce moral indictment against the international community, declaring the persistence of hunger is a "collective moral failure" and warning world leaders they can no longer "look the other way."
The Pontiff’s remarks to the Food and Agriculture Organization's summit in Rome on Thursday came a day after the World Food Program warned that severe global humanitarian funding cuts are pushing millions of people toward starvation, with famine already confirmed in Gaza and Sudan.
"We can no longer delude ourselves by thinking that the consequences of our failures impact only those who are hidden out of sight," he said. "The hungry faces of so many who still suffer challenge us and invite us to reexamine our lifestyles, our priorities and our overall way of living."
He pointed to "all of those who are condemned to death and hardship in Ukraine, Gaza, Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic, Yemen, and South Sudan," saying these "just a few places on the planet where poverty has become the daily bread" of so many people.
Leo also condemned the growing "resurgence of the use of food as a weapon of war," contrary to international humanitarian law. A recent U.N. Security Council condemnation of the practice "seems forgotten," he added, "as we painfully witness the continued use of this cruel strategy, which condemns men, women, and children to hunger, denying them the most basic right: the right to life."
The summit and WFP report, released to coincide with World Food Day, painted a dire picture of the humanitarian ecosystem. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu affirmed the theme, pointing to the geopolitical and ethical failures driving global food insecurity amid a U.N. funding crisis.
"The world’s leaders and people everywhere must come together united by our collective belief that the right to food is a basic human right, and that peace is a prerequisite for food security," Qu said.
WFP said its funding has never been more challenged, with an anticipated 40% drop in funding, down to a projected target of $6.4 billion in 2025 from the $10 billion received last year. It warned the resulting reduction in assistance could push 13.7 million food aid recipients from crisis to emergency levels of hunger.
"Every ration cut means a child goes to bed hungry, a mother skips a meal, or a family loses the support they need to survive," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said. "The lifeline that sustains millions of people is being cut before our eyes."
No more looking 'the other way'
WFP's financial shortfall, driven largely by slashed outlays from major donors, including a reduction in U.S. contributions from nearly $4.5 billion to about $1.5 billion this year, is causing severe operational breakdowns.
It detailed six critical operations at risk of "significant pipeline breaks" by year-end. Some 25 million people in Sudan – half the population – face acute hunger, with famine confirmed in areas. In Congo, WFP reduced assistance this month to 600,000 people, down from a planned 2.3 million people.
In South Sudan, all 2.7 million recipients are now on reduced rations that are missing critical food items. Afghanistan's operation faces a $622 million shortfall and has been unable to pre-position food as winter approaches.
Haiti's hot meal programs have been suspended, and there are no contingency stocks for the hurricane season for the first time since 2016. In Somalia, 4.4 million people face. high levels of food insecurity.
Leo reaffirmed FAO's mission of building peace through food security, stressing that hunger's defeat is the path to peace.
"The international community cannot look the other way. We must make their suffering our own," he said. "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 we have grown accustomed to, an unsolvable problem, or simply someone else’s responsibility."
