Romans have been fuming because of the massive traffic jams caused by the city's decision to create an enormous security red zone around the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where 3646 delegates from 182 countries, including 60 heads of state and 191 government ministers, gathered in Rome for three days for a World Summit on Food Security. Pope Benedict XVI addressed the meeting on the first day, November 16, saying: "Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty," said His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. "Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions."

The severe traffic congestion - the fruit of the security measures taken by Italian police --unfortunately appears to have distracted most people here, keeping them from looking at the real issues: more than a BILLION people going to bed hungry every night in a world which already produces enough food to feed everyone. But although some progress has been made (31 poor countries in four continents of the world have managed to significantly reduce the hunger problem), rising food prices, ongoing population growth, trade barriers and inefficient production methods in much of the developing world have led the hunger and malnutrition problem to worsen since the last two world conferences on food security in 2002 and June, 2008. "The time has come to let concrete actions follow words"said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in his final speech

The most chilling statistic of all? That every six seconds - that's every SIX SECONDS - somewhere in the world a child dies from malnutrition. And yet, responding to a poll taken by one Italian news program on the question of whether or not hunger in the world should be a top priority for governments. more than one third of the respondents said "no"". This is most worrisome and I suggest everyone read the pithy editorial (see the following article) that my friend Mary Venturini wrote for her small Rome-based magazine "Wanted in Rome".