Echoing comments made by Pope Francis, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace warned that Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which permitted Ukraine to export its grain from certain ports, and “its bombing of grain storage facilities in Ukraine will greatly impact the availability of [international] food supplies at a time when more people are in dire need of food.”
“I join with our Holy Father in calling on global leaders to look beyond narrow national interests, focus on the common good, and join in ensuring that critical food supplies can flow to those most in need,” Bishop David Malloy of Rockford (IL) said in a statement released on August 7. “The most vulnerable are crying in hunger. With the compassion of Christ, we need to heed their cries and help.”