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In a message marking World Food Day 2011, Pope Benedict XVI has indicated the tools that today’s businesses and governments need to implement now to eradicate global hunger: “A change in lifestyle and a necessary moderation of behavior and consumption”.
He stated that food should not be equated with other merchandise and therefore should not be subject to speculation.
What is required is investment in agriculture and, ultimately, the need to rediscover “the feeling of compassion and humanity towards others, accompanied the duty of solidarity and the realization of justice”.
The message marking the thirtieth World Food Day was sent to the Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf.
Commenting on this year’s theme “Food Prices: from crisis to stability,” the Pope writes that “the meaning of this day should be a commitment to changing behaviors and decisions to make sure that every person today, and not tomorrow, has access to the food they need, and that the agricultural sector has a sufficient level of investment and resources to bring stability to production and as a result to the market. ”
Pope Benedict remarked that behaviour and consumption would need to be moderated for the good of future generations so that there can be “concrete commitments for the development of entire peoples and nations.”
He noted that countries who received help had a responsibility to invest “in rural infrastructures, irrigation systems, transport, organization of markets, and in the development and dissemination of agricultural technology that can make the best use of the human, natural and socio-economic resources that are more readily available at the local level”
The Pope added, “All of this can only be realized if the international institutions ensure impartiality and efficiency of their service, but in full compliance with the deepest convictions of the human spirit and aspirations of each person.
Source: Vatican Radio
Image: Radio Canada International
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