Pope Calls Hunger Reason to Intervene

ROME —  Pope John Paul II, in an apparent reference to the situation in Somalia, told a U.N. hunger conference Saturday that the international community must intervene if a war or internal conflict leads to starvation.

“The conscience of humanity demands that humanitarian intervention be made compulsory in situations which seriously endanger the survival of entire peoples and groups. This is the duty for nations and the international community,” he said.

The Pope was opening the International Conference on Nutrition, sponsored by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.