For the United Nations World Environment Day (also known as International Environment Day), Pope Francis dedicated his weekly audience to food wastage and excessive consumerism. The Pope wasting food talk touched a chord with many, as the pontiff pointed out the "culture of waste" that currently exists and how that takes away from so many around the world.
"This culture of waste has made us insensitive even to the waste and disposal of food, which is even more despicable when all over the world, unfortunately, many individuals and families are suffering from hunger and malnutrition," said Francis in the Pope wasting food speech. "Once our grandparents were very careful not to throw away any leftover food. Consumerism has led us to become used to an excess and daily waste of food, to which, at times we are no longer able to give a just value."
"Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of the poor and the hungry," added the Pope wasting food audience.
The Pope wasting food audience shed light on International Environment Day, but also a pressing problem in the world, as the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year. What's worse, a report by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME) states that 30 to 50 percent of food produced is wasted.
The importance of the Pope wasting food audience theme lies in the simple numbers: 13.1 percent of the world qualifies as hungry, 7.6 million children died of hunger in 2010, 98 percent of worldwide hunger exists in underdeveloped countries and one in every 15 children in developed nations die from hunger.
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The Pope wasting food audience also had Pope Francis asking people to take care of the environment and overall waste--a fitting request for International Environment Day.
"Are we truly cultivating and caring for creation? Or are we exploiting and neglecting it?" asked the Pope in his wasting food audience. "Cultivating and caring for creation is God's indication given to each one of us not only at the beginning of history. It means nurturing the world with responsibility and transforming it into a garden, a habitable place for everyone."
The Pope wasting food speech also had the pontiff pointing out how news like a 10-point drop in the stock market was considered to be a tragedy and yet when homeless people dye on the streets, it doesn't make headlines.
"Human ecology and environmental ecology walk hand in hand", he said.
The Pope wasting food audience is not the first time Pope Francis has called upon Catholics to do more for the poor. Since taking office in March, the Argentinian pontiff has asked Catholics to defend the poor.
The Pope wasting food audience was welcomed with praise from Coldiretti, Italy's largest agricultural organization. The organization valued the Pope recognizing the work of farmers.
"The globalization of markets has reduced responsibility, honesty and transparency and provoked the international crisis," said Sergio Marini, the president of Coldiretti to The Telegraph. "I am grateful to the pope for recognising our work."
The Pope wasting food speech was given in his Wednesday audience, which had thousands of people around the world courtesy of International Environment Day. The audience was extra special as 30-some Italian relatives of the pontiff showed up from northern Italy to greet the ethnically Italian Pope.
Watch the Pope wasting food audience below:
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