Caritas launches ‘One Human Family, Food for All’

December 10, 2013 - With the blessing and support of Pope Francis, Caritas Internationalis on Tuesday officially launched its first ever global campaign to end world hunger by 2025. ‘One Human Family, Food for All’ is the slogan of the Caritas initiative inaugurated with a “wave of prayer” set to travel around the world. Caritas groups across the globe prayed at 12pm local time, starting just east of the International Date Line and travelling west across Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, all the way back to the Pacific Ocean. With a video message on Monday, Pope Francis called on the world to support the anti-hunger campaign. Caritas Internationalis is a global confederation of over 160 Catholic organizations working in humanitarian emergencies and international development. Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis explained that the idea of the campaign originated in a brain-storming session of the steering committee, which ultimately focussed on praying at midday wherever they are for a world without hunger. Lamenting the developed countreis waste a lot of food, he said, “all of us, have to work for it.” Rich nations waste about 40% of food, he noted, and said each one has “to do a lot to our ways, our behavior and our way of relating to food.” At other levels, the international community decided in 2000 to reduce hunger by half, by 2015. And the reality today is that there are as many people suffering from hunger as in 2000 – 840 million, according to the UN statistics. It’s scandalous to have so many people suffering from hunger.”