Pope hails UN food agency's Alliance Against Hunger

Pope John Paul II today gave his backing to the International Alliance Against Hunger promoted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), saying the service was more urgently needed than ever.

"Our meeting today allows me to express the appreciation of the Catholic Church for the important service which FAO renders to humanity," the Pope said at a special audience at the Vatican for delegates from many of FAO's 188 Members attending the organization's biennial Conference at its Rome headquarters.

"Today this service is more urgently needed than ever. Hunger and malnutrition, aggravated by growing poverty, represent a grave threat to the peaceful coexistence of peoples and nations," he added, according to a FAO news release.

"Given this close relationship between hunger and peace, it is clear that economic and political decisions and strategies must increasingly be guided by a commitment to global solidarity and respect for fundamental human rights, including the right to adequate nourishment," the Pope declared.

"For this reason I am confident that the work of FAO in establishing an International Alliance Against Hunger will bear fruit in practical choices and political decisions inspired by the awareness that humanity is one family."