Rome (AsiaNews) – In a message released today, but dated 12 October 2026 (the day before his surgery at the Gemelli Hospital to remove a “localized nodule” from his lung), Pope Leo XIV writes to Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in office since 2019, on the occasion of World Food Day, whose theme this year is Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow.
In six points, the pontiff warns against “financial considerations” and "selfish interests” that can corrupt innovation, leading the world into a "paradoxical situation" where hunger and poverty persist, afflicting humanity, even as “global progress is advancing at an ever-increasing pace”.
Changing the way we conceive of progress
For Leo, it is “necessary to change the way we conceive of such progress”. To overcome a “profound anthropological and ethical crisis” and help “the earth yield its fruit, humanity does not merely engage in a technical operation, but fulfills the command to care for the earth and cultivate it”.
This command “precedes all legal frameworks and technological innovations,” the pontiff writes. Unfortunately, technology is being used “in ways that strip the soil of its natural fertility or drives farmers from their land.” This constitutes a “sophisticated form of destruction”, one that disregards the “common good,” violates the “principle of solidarity,” and ignores “humanity’s duty to safeguard creation.”
Hunger is not a statistical anomaly
For the pope, ethical innovations are “not measured solely by the quantity of grain produced, but also by the protection of the human dignity that God has bestowed upon each of us and the integrity of the ecosystem that we are called to preserve.”
Thus, “Hunger cannot be considered a statistical anomaly,” he notes, adding that its primary causes are a “lack of political will” and an absence of “collective charity.”
Given that today’s technological progress is unprecedented, for Leo XIV it is “intolerable for bread to be considered a privilege and water a contested commodity.”
Emphasising that regular access to safe food is “a basic human right,” he stresses that ensuring such access is an “obligation of justice”.
This means that it is more urgent than ever to reconsider distribution. “Grain markets are being optimized on stock exchanges, while the actual seeds that germinate in the soil fall into the hands of monopolies that suffocate small-scale farming.”
In his appeal to the FAO, Leo calls for “freeing food production from a purely speculative mentality. Bread should be neither an instrument of geopolitical pressure nor a volatile financial asset. Nor must it ever be used as a weapon of war.”
A call for responsibility that looks beyond balance sheets
It is necessary to go beyond “short-term thinking. The myth that growth can be endless when resources are limited has reached breaking point. Today, innovation requires adopting an intergenerational sense of responsibility that looks beyond annual budgets.”
It is crucial to reconcile “technology [. . .] with the wisdom of farmers who have deepened their understanding of the soil and the climate through centuries of conscientious observation. This likewise involves protecting water as an inalienable common good,” the pope says.
To this end, the pontiff urges FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu “not to settle for abstract analyses or declarations of limited effectiveness. Now is the time for moral audacity.”
“A new global food order is essential,” Leo writes, stressing “an urgent ethical imperative to redirect resources invested in the war industry toward sustainable agricultural research and the regeneration of degraded soils.”
Above all, the future “is not an abstract span of time,” but “rather, it is the harvest of what we sow today through our decisions.”
Finally, the pontiff reiterated the Holy See’s support to “the FAO in its noble efforts.”
