“Change direction!” – this is the key imperative contained in Pope Francis’ address to the FAO. “Faced with the increased demand for food – the Pope’s appeal -, it is indispensable that the fruits of the land be available to all”. “For some it would be enough to reduce the number of mouths to feed and in this way solve the problem; but it is a false solution if we think of the levels of food waste and models of consumption that squander many resources”. “Reducing is easy; sharing instead demands conversion, and this is challenging”, the Pope conceded, before making a specific proposal: “Is it too much to think of introducing into the language of international cooperation the category of love, understood as gratuitousness, parity in negotiation, solidarity, the culture of giving, fraternity, mercy?”. “These words – Pope Francis noted – express the practical content of the term ‘humanitarian’, widely used at international level”. “To love one’s brothers and to do so first – he went on to say -, without waiting for it to be reciprocated – this is a Gospel principle that is found in many cultures and religions, and becomes the principle of humanity in the language of international relations”. Hence the hope that “diplomacy and multilateral Institutions nurture and organise this capacity to love, so that it may become the primary way to guarantee not only food security, but human security in a global sense”. “We cannot work only if others do so, nor can we limit ourselves to having pity, because pity stops at emergency aid – the Pope explained -, whereas love inspires justice and is essential for realising a just social order among diverse realities that wish to run the risk of the mutual encounter”. “To love – Pope Francis remarked, focusing on the verb – means to contribute so that every country increases its production and reaches food self-sufficiency. To love translates into thinking of new models of development and consumption, and adopting policies that do not aggravate the situation of the less advanced populations, or their external dependency. To love means not continuing to divide the human family into those who have more than they need, and those who lack the essential”.