January 26, 2007

Retiring World Food Program director has audience with Holy Father

Criterion staff report

How do you spend your last day on the job?

If you’re James Morris, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, you take part in a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Morris, a Terre Haute native and longtime civic leader in Indianapolis, met with the Holy Father on Jan. 15, which was also his last day serving as the leader of the world’s largest food aid organization.

At the meeting, Morris noted the extraordinary help provided to the World Food Program by Catholic organizations.

“I wish to thank His Holiness [Pope Benedict] for his continued personal commitment, as well as that of the Catholic Church, to the poor and desperate people of the world,” Morris said. “The developed world must do more to help the more than 850 million people who don’t have enough to feed themselves.”

He also noted that millions of children are plagued by hunger and malnutrition. Tragically, 18,000 children die every day.

Morris is no stranger to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He was the keynote speaker at the 2005 Spirit of Service Awards Dinner to support the work of Catholic Charities Indianapolis.

The World Food Program has numerous Catholic groups and organizations as partners, such as Caritas, Catholic Relief Services, Jesuit Refugee Service, the International Catholic Migration Commission and the lay Community of Sant’Egidio.

“The spiritual, moral and material support of Pope Benedict XVI and of the Catholic Church represents a real hope to provide a future to millions of children,” Morris said. †

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