Pope Leo XIV warns world leaders against indifference to global hunger

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on world leaders to show responsibility and not look the other way when faced with world food emergencies.

The Holy Father spoke at the World Food Day global ceremony, which also marked the 80th anniversary of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at its headquarters in Rome.

Leo cited UN data showing that around 673 million people do not eat enough each day.

The pope openly named the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic, Yemen, and South Sudan.

Leo also condemned the use of hunger as a weapon of war, but didn’t name any specific conflict or region.

“We can no longer delude ourselves by thinking that the consequences of our failures impact only those who are hidden out of sight,” he said. “The hungry faces of so many who still suffer challenge us and invite us to reexamine our lifestyles, our priorities and our overall way of living in today’s world.”

“We must make their suffering our own,” he concluded in English, after delivering most of his speech in Spanish.

The pope gave a similar warning against indifference to poverty and hunger in his first encyclical released last week.

His plea comes as UN food aid agencies face severe funding cuts from their top donors, putting key operations on the ground at risk

The World Food Programme, traditionally the UN's most-funded agency, said in a new report on Wednesday that its funding this year “has never been more challenged” — largely due to slashed outlays from the United States under the Trump administration and other leading Western donors.

It warned that 13.7 million of its food aid recipients could be forced into emergency levels of hunger as funding is cut. The countries facing “major disruptions” are Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.