Pope: "lack of compassion" causes hunger and increased migration

Receiving the participants at the 41st General Conference of the FAO, Francis underlined that "the increase in the number of refugees in the world during the last few years has shown us that the problem of a country is the problem of the whole human family".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - At the origin of the "tragedy of hunger" which is also the cause of increased migration, there are "lack of compassion", "disinterest of many" and "lack of social and political will when responding to international obligations ”.

This is what Pope Francis stressed this morning in his address to the participants in the 41st General Conference of the FAO.

The Pope said the goal "zero hunger" in the world and the struggle for access to clean water, despite the progress that has been made in recent decades, "remains a great challenge".

"The lack of food and water - he observed - is not an internal and exclusive issue of the poorest and most fragile countries, but concerns each of us, because everyone, through our attitude, participates in one way or another, favoring or holding back the suffering of many of our brothers and sisters. We are all called to listen to the desperate cry of our brothers and sisters and to take every measure so that they can live seeing their most fundamental rights respected ”.

Francis then highlighted the connection between environmental instability, food insecurity and migration flows. "The increase in the number of refugees in the world during the last few years has shown us that the problem of a country is the problem of the whole human family. It is therefore necessary to promote agricultural development in the most vulnerable regions, strengthening the resilience and sustainability of the territory. This will only be achieved, on the one hand, by investing and developing technologies and, on the other, by devising innovative and supportive policies for development ".

In this field, the role of the FAO and of international organizations is important, "suitable actors to coordinate the peremptory and incisive measures that ensure everyone, and in particular the poorest, access to essential goods". Thus, the need for these organizations to give support, as the Holy See does, is evident "by supporting the international effort to eliminate world hunger".