Macroeconomics: A Vatican view on finer points of global food crisis

[Holly3278]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As world leaders were meeting in Rome to work out a response to the global food crisis, the Vatican weighed in on two levels – morality and macroeconomics.

Pope Benedict XVI laid out the moral principles in a message June 3 to the World Food Security Summit, saying that hunger and malnutrition were unacceptable in a world that has sufficient levels of agricultural production and resources.

The pope said a chief cause of hunger was lack of solidarity with others, and he emphasized that protecting the right to life means helping to feed the hungry.

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0803022.htm

I totally agree with the Pope.

 

[consumedconvert]

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0803022.htm

I totally agree with the Pope.

Bravo!

 

[KathleenElsie]

Yea for the POPE.

Moreover, it said, the “hijacking” of agricultural land for production of biofuel crops was being subsidized by governments, which represents an interference with the correct functioning of the global food market.

– Emergency food aid is a necessary short-term measure, it said. But such aid, if continued for long periods of time, can actually aggravate the root problems of the food crisis by weakening local agricultural markets and the food autonomy of beneficiary countries.

– On the other hand, the current boom in food prices could turn out to be an opportunity for agricultural growth in poorer countries, as long as farmers have the essentials: land, seed, fertilizer, water and access to markets.

This is another thing that the Holy Father says needs to be addressed.