With his whole heart, Pope Francis calls for your 'prayer and action' to end global hunger

On Tuesday, December 10, 2013, Pope Francis helped launch a worldwide movement, sponsored by Caritas Internationalis, to end hunger through prayer and action.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Catholic Online with Your Catholic Voice Foundation will be participating, together with Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA and the 164 Caritas Internationalis organizations in 200 countries that provide relief to those who suffer from hunger. Won't you join us?

Pope Francis, in support of efforts by Caritas Internationalis, a Vatican-based federation of charities, has called for an international wave of prayer on Dec. 10 to combat hunger around the globe. Known as the "Food for All" prayer, the faithful are called to recite this prayer and act in accord by giving and supporting the Holy Father's plea on behalf of those who hunger.

Proclaiming "all people enjoy the right to food," the Holy Father's prayer exhorts all the world's citizens to find solutions to world hunger.

We can end world hunger with a combined, sustained campaign of prayer and giving. We can eradicate world hunger by 2025. Only devout prayer and thoughtful generosity will suffice to feed the nearly 1 billion people, mostly children, who struggle with hunger. You can make a difference right now.  Every Vita Meal donation will buy one month of nourishing meal replacement for a child. Donate now and feed a child.

"A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being," Pope Francis, Address to the Food and Agricultural Organization, June 20, 2013.

Activities for December 10

At noon local time, a global wave of prayer will begin on the island of Samoa and will progress around the world until it reaches the same island some 24 hours and more than 164 countries later.

Please join us wherever you are by reciting the prayer at the bottom of this page at noon your local time, and please invite others to join you.

Please tweet, Facebook post, and send us pictures of you and your community praying for an end to world hunger on the Catholic Online Facebook Page, which you can like and follow here.

Finally, make a considered and deliberate act to JOIN WITH POPE FRANCIS and CATHOLIC ONLINE to end world hunger by clicking here and donating Vita Meal  to feed one person (or more) for 30 days. The best way to do this is to join Catholic Team Global, a new secular missionary society devoted to the Papal Missions. Click here to learn more about Catholic Team Global.

Your donation will be made through Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a 503c corporation and is tax deductable. The full 100 percent of the food you donate will be delivered on the ground to someone in need.

Activities after December 10

Catholic Online is launching Catholic Team Global to assist Pope Francis in his fight against world hunger. Most of the aid we deliver will be raised via generous contributions from you. As you continue to pray for the success of the Pope's mission, you must also act. By joining Catholic Team Global, you do your part to answer the Pope's call to action.

Remember, people need food to survive and prayer to thrive. Simple food or simple prayer alone will not suffice.

The Holy Father has called you to help. Will you join him?

One Human Family Food For All Campaign Prayer - Pope Francis and Caritas International

O God, you entrusted to us the fruits of all creation so that we
might care for the earth and be nourished with its bounty.

You sent us your Son to share our very flesh and blood and to
teach us your Law of Love. Through His death and
resurrection, we have been formed into one human family.

Jesus showed great concern for those who had no food - even
transforming five loaves and two fish into a banquet that
served five thousand and many more.

We come before you, O God, conscious of our faults and
failures, but full of hope, to share food with all members in
this global family.

Through your wisdom, inspire leaders of government and of
business, as well as all the world's citizens, to find just, and
charitable solutions to end hunger by assuring that all people
enjoy the right to food.

Thus we pray, O God, that when we present ourselves for
Divine Judgment, we can proclaim ourselves as "One Human
Family" with "Food for All".

AMEN.

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