杏MAP导航

By Linda Bordoni

杏MAP导航 Francis marked World Food Day this week with a visit to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where he called on world leaders and policymakers to work for a concrete, practical consensus to prevent the most tragic effects of climate change hitting the weakest and most defenseless.

鈥淲e need to change our lifestyles, the use of resources, production and consumption patterns,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, and he decried what he described as the 鈥渘egligence鈥� that is damaging the 鈥渄elicate balances of the ecosystems鈥� and the 鈥渁rrogance of manipulating and controlling鈥� the planet.

Hosting the 杏MAP导航 at FAO鈥檚 Headquarters in Rome was FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, who immediately afterwards spoke to Vatican Radio.

Da Silva points out that the Vatican has Permanent Observer Status at FAO but most important, he says, as the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church he represents values that FAO shares: solidarity, dignity, and hope in a better world.

Shared values

鈥淲e share those values in FAO and 杏MAP导航 Francis is a continuing inspiration for us, and not only through 鈥楲audato Sì鈥� where he approaches the issue of climate change 鈥� a very important common global value鈥� he says.

He says that 杏MAP导航 Francis is one of those rare people who have dedicated their entire lives to promoting important values: 鈥渢hese people are indispensable鈥�.

鈥淚 think that 杏MAP导航 Francis is one of those people who have worked hard all of their lives and that he is one of the few indispensable people in the world today鈥� he says.

Collaboration between Vatican and FAO

Before addressing his audience at FAO, da Silva says he had the opportunity to speak with 杏MAP导航 Francis personally about some of the programmes his organization shares with the Vatican.
鈥淲e discussed particularly the need to concentrate our efforts in Africa and to stop the conflicts, and also to deal with the impact of climate change鈥� he says.

Da Silva also revealed that 杏MAP导航 Francis promised to send a special message for the meeting that FAO is organizing during the African Union Summit that FAO is organizing next January 2018 in Addis Ababa.