ROME: World leaders are “feeding” wars instead of the hungry, Pope Leo said on Monday, telling the UN food aid agency that global priorities were badly skewed.
Leo, who has been more outspoken on political issues in recent months, urged governments to increase their spending to combat hunger and not subject food aid to limits based on geopolitical concerns.
“Conflicts are ‘fed’ more readily than people are nourished,” the first US pope said in a visit to the Rome headquarters of the World Food Programme (WFP).
“This reality reflects not only operational shortcomings but also a fundamental imbalance in political and moral priorities,” he said.
The WFP is the largest provider of food aid worldwide. Its biggest donor is the US, which announced a new $800 million contribution last week, following earlier cuts by President Donald Trump that more than halved planned US funding.
