We live in a wonderful home created by God to provide us with all that we need. It is a world that we neither deserve nor earn: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!”

In the midst of this world, however, there are countless millions who go to bed hungry every night, not knowing if there will be food on the table the next day.

The hand of the Lord feeds us. It feeds us, however, through the common efforts of others: note that Jesus, when feeding the five thousand, passed out the food by the hands of the disciple. He did this, moreover, right after telling them “Give them something to eat yourselves.”

The problem in feeding the world’s population is not with the productivity of God’s earth. The problem lies with our political lack of will, our economic system biased in favor of the affluent, our militarism, and our tendency to blame the victims of social tragedies like hunger.

Forgive our sins and restore us to life. The first step in eliminating hunger should be a universal confession of wrongdoing.

The nations that enjoy a sufficiency and abundance of everything may not overlook the plight of other nations whose citizens experience such domestic problems that they are all but overcome by poverty and hunger, and are not able to enjoy basic human rights. ...

We think it opportune to stress here what we have stated in another connection: “We all share responsibility for the fact that populations are undernourished. Therefore, it is necessary to arouse a sense of responsibility in individuals and generally, especially among those more blessed with this world’s goods.”

Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra (1961) 157-58.