Religious Leaders

Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII, canonized in 2014 as Pope Saint John XXIII, blessed the Freedom From Hunger Campaign in 1963 and sent representatives from the Holy See to some of the early national committees. He and his successor, Pope Paul XI, in part because of the Vatican's proximity to FAO, regularly sent representatives to meet with FAO Director General BR Sen and FFHC staff to advise and to spread the campaign message throughout the church.

Pope Kyrolles VI

The Great Pope Kyrolles VI, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, undertook several actions in support of the Campaign.  These included FFHC items in Church publications, interviewing Dr. Sen and members of the FFHC Secretariat to gain a greater understanding of the Campaign, and the issue of a circular on FFHC to all the church priests in Cairo, all the Bishoprics in St. Mark’s Church in the UAR, the Sudan and Jerusalem; the priests included FFHC in one or more of their sermons.

Somdetch Phra Buddacharn

Supreme Buddhist Patriarch  and abbot of Wat Saket, Somdetch Phra Buddacharn, connected the ideals of FFHC to Buddhist principles: "Through the power of meritorious virtues --- Metta Dhamma and Metta Karuna --- which bring to mankind well-wishes and sympathy in the relief of distress, our world is unified. Besides this, 'Dana', or giving things that should be given, is one of the processes of virtue making. If the matter be thoroughly studied, one would believe that our life is bound up with 'Dana' from the time of birth to the time of death. Paternal 'Dana' begins all. There is no end to it. Cooperation is also a form of 'Dana' which contributes to the community.

Mahmud Shaltut

Mahmud Shaltut,  The Grand Imam and Sheikh of Al-Azhar, issued repeated appeals for support of the Campaign; on the occasion of the second Freedom From Hunger Week in 1965 the Grand Imam pronounced that "The United Nations…with the expansion of its activities to organize an international Freedom From Hunger Campaign, the United Nations Organization serves a basic ideal of Islam in saving the world from the danger of hunger and the misery of deprivation and malnutrition.  The Organization thus assists Islam to realize the greatest and most honourable of God’s bounties to humanity, namely, the two blessings of safety from fear and security from hunger.  God Almighty has said, “Let them worship the God of this House, Who has fed them when hungry and safeguarded them from fear.”