Aid to Developing Nations

45. "If a brother or a sister be naked and in want of daily food," says St. James, "and one of you say to them, 'Go in peace, be warm and filled,' yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what does it profit?" ⁴⁸ Today no one can be unaware of the fact that on some continents countless men and women are ravished by hunger and countless children are undernourished. Many children die at an early age; many more of them find their physical and mental growth retarded. Thus whole populations are immersed in pitiable circumstances and lose heart.

46. Anxious appeals for help have already been voiced. That of Our predecessor John XXIII was warmly received. ⁴⁹ We reiterated his sentiments in Our Christmas message of 1963, ⁵⁰ and again in 1966 on behalf of India. ⁵¹ The work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been encouraged by the Holy See and has found generous support. Our own organization, Caritas Internationalis, is at work all over the world. Many Catholics, at the urging of Our brother bishops, have contributed unstintingly to the assistance of the needy and have gradually widened the circle of those they call neighbors.