Above: Pope Leo XIV addresses government leaders and representatives during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome Oct. 16, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
By Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) — “Allowing millions of human beings to live — and die — as victims of hunger is a collective failure, an ethical aberration, a historical fault,” Pope Leo XIV said on World Food Day. The pope drove across Rome Oct. 16 to address world leaders and government representatives at the headquarters of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition to marking World Food Day, the delegates were celebrating the 80th anniversary of FAO’s establishment. In his speech, Pope Leo decried the fact that while humanity has made huge advances in technology, medicine, agriculture and transportation, 673 million people go to bed hungry each night, and 2.3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. The FAO statistics are not just numbers, he said; “behind each of these numbers is a broken life, a vulnerable community.”
