exclamation

Important notice: To continue serving our valued readers during the postal disruption, complete unrestricted access to the digital edition is available at no extra cost. This will ensure uninterrupted digital access to your copies. Click here to view the digital edition, or learn more.

South Sudanese women carry food aid from a World Food Program distribution center in Pibor, South Sudan, Jan. 12.
South Sudanese women carry food aid from a World Food Program distribution center in Pibor, South Sudan, Jan. 12. CNS photo/Hereward Holland, Reuters

Pope says world must help Africans in Sahel

By  Mary Shovlain, Catholic News Service
  • February 10, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged the international community to address the problems of poverty and malnutrition in Africa's Sahel region.

"The Sahel was seriously threatened again in recent months by a notable decrease in food resources and by famine caused by a lack of rain and the resulting increase in desertification," the pope told members of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel.

He said that for residents of the Sahel, "living conditions are deteriorating."

Pope Benedict noted that Africa is often described as the continent of conflict and infinite problems, but he said the opposite is true. For the church, he said, Africa "is the continent of hope."

The Sahel is a region of semiarid grassland and desert south of the Sahara Desert.

U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations estimate that 6 million people in Niger are highly vulnerable to food insecurity, extreme poverty and malnutrition; 2.9 million in Mali; 700,000 in Mauritania; and more than 2 million in Burkina Faso. Thirteen of Chad's 22 regions could be affected by food insecurity.

In 1980, following his first visit to Africa, Blessed John Paul II founded the Sahel foundation to combat desertification in Africa.

Tagged under:

Related items

More in this category: « Hong Kong cardinal warns of 'schism' within Chinese church Don't wait for explosion: Speakers say church must prevent abuse »

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE