In a message to participants in a conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Pope Francis called on the international community to persevere in its goal of zero hunger by 2030 and to do so in a way that respects local traditions.
“We must be very attentive to and respectful of local communities, cultural diversity and traditional specificities, which cannot be altered or destroyed in the name of a short-sighted idea of progress which, in reality, risks becoming synonymous with ‘ideological colonization,’” the Pope said. “For this reason, and I never tire of highlighting this, interventions and projects must be planned and implemented in response to the demands of the people and their communities; they cannot be imposed from above or from bodies that only seek their own interests or profit.”
“Millions of people continue to suffer from poverty and malnutrition around the world, due to armed conflict, as well as climate change and the resulting natural disasters,” the Pope added. “It bears repeating time and again: poverty, inequalities, lack of access to basic resources such as food, drinking water, health, education, housing, are a serious affront to human dignity!”
