Vatican City, Oct 16, 2009 / 15:21 pm
As the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) celebrated its anniversary today, Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to the group's director, Jaques Diouf. The Holy Father asserted in his message that truly helping man requires measures aimed at both his spiritual and material dimensions. Technology alone will not suffice, he said.
As it does on each of its anniversaries, the FAO observed World Food Day, which commemorates its founding on October 16, 1945. The theme of this year's day is: "Achieving food security in times of crisis."
Pope Benedict began his message to Diouf by reflecting on the current global economic crisis.
"The current crisis, which affects all sectors of the economy without distinction, strikes particularly seriously at the agricultural world where the situation has become dramatic," he said. "The crisis calls on governments and on the various components of the international community to make decisive and effective choices."