Pope denounces use of hunger as weapon of war as he urges world leaders 'not to look the other way'

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday denounced the use of hunger as a weapon of war as he urged world leaders to act responsibly and focus on the multitudes across the globe who face hunger, wars and misery.

During an address on World Food Day at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Leo urged the international community to not look the other way, at a time of dwindling foreign aid budgets.

The pope named the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, along with Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic, Yemen and South Sudan. He cited U.N. data showing that around 673 million people do not eat enough each day.

“We can no longer delude ourselves by thinking that the consequences of our failures impact only those who are hidden out of sight,” he said. “The hungry faces of so many who still suffer challenge us and invite us to reexamine our lifestyles, our priorities and our overall way of living in today’s world.”

“We must make their suffering our own,” he concluded in English, after delivering most of his speech in Spanish to world leaders, ministers and ambassadors gathered at FAO's Rome headquarters for an event commemorating the U.N. agency's 80th anniversary.

Leo condemned the use of hunger as a weapon of war, but didn’t name any specific conflict or region. Humanitarian groups have long denounced the practice, in which food or aid is restricted or diverted during a conflict, leaving innocent civilians to go hungry. Most recently, even some Jewish groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, a claim Israel strongly denies.

“In a time when science has lengthened life expectancy, allowing millions of human beings to live, and die, struck by hunger is a collective failure, an ethical derailment, a historic offense,” he said.

Leo’s warning comes as U.N. food aid agencies face severe funding cuts from their top donors that risk hurting their operations in key countries and forcing millions of people into emergency levels of hunger.

The World Food Program, traditionally the U.N.’s most-funded agency, said in a new report on Wednesday that its funding this year “has never been more challenged” — largely due to slashed outlays from the U.S. under the Trump administration and other leading Western donors.

It warned that 13.7 million of its food aid recipients could be forced into emergency levels of hunger as funding is cut. The countries facing “major disruptions” are Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Pope Leo XIV, left, attends the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of World Food Day at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV signs the FAO Golden Book register of honor as he attends a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of World Food Day at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV, flanked by FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, left, signs the FAO Golden Book register of honor as he attends a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of World Food Day at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV signs the FAO Golden Book register of honor as he attends a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of World Food Day at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV leaves the Global World Food Day Ceremony in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 15, 2026--

QPS Holdings, LLC (QPS), an award-winning contract research organization (CRO) focused on bioanalysis and clinical trials announces the successful implementation of Oracle Argus, a premier pharmacovigilance system designed to support comprehensive safety case management for clinical trials.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260115711485/en/

The adoption of the Oracle Argus drug safety platform underscores QPS’s commitment to advancing patient safety, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence across its clients’ clinical drug development programs. Integrating this industry-standard safety platform strengthens QPS’ ability to capture, manage, and report adverse events in accordance with global regulatory requirements.

“Ensuring patient safety and data integrity is at the heart of what we do when conducting clinical trials,” said Derek Grimes, Executive Vice President of QPS. “Oracle Argus provides us with a robust, scalable solution to support the growing needs of our customer’s clinical trial portfolios and the evolving expectations of regulatory authorities worldwide.”

“Oracle Argus provides QPS Holdings, LLC with a trusted, globally recognized drug safety platform that supports compliance with stringent pharmacovigilance standards and regulations, while streamlining end-to-end safety operations and insights at scale,” said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences. “With our industry-leading solutions, QPS Holdings, LLC can further transform and elevate its safety case management for customers worldwide.”

The deployment of Oracle Argus will enable QPS to:

As the demand for innovative therapies continues to rise, CROs play a critical role in managing both development speed and patient safety. By leveraging the Oracle Argus platform, QPS is well-positioned to deliver on its mission to accelerate pharmaceutical breakthroughs across the globe by delivering custom-built research services.

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ABOUT QPS HOLDINGS, LLC

QPS is a global, full-service, GLP/GCP-compliant contract research organization (CRO) delivering the highest grade of discovery, bioanalysis, preclinical and clinical drug development services. Since 1995, QPS has grown from a small bioanalysis shop into a full-service CRO with 1,200+ employees in the US, Europe, Asia and India. Today, QPS offers expanded pharmaceutical contract R&D services with special expertise in pharmacology, DMPK, toxicology, bioanalysis, translational medicine, PBMC processing, central safety labs, clinical trials, and clinical research services. An award-winning leader focused on bioanalysis and clinical trials, QPS is known for proven quality standards, technical expertise, a flexible approach to research, client satisfaction, turnkey laboratories, Phase I/II clinical units, and multi-site clinical research services. For more information, visit http://www.qps.com or email info@qps.com.

ABOUT ORACLE ARGUS

Oracle Argus is an industry-leading, trusted solution for processing, analyzing, and reporting adverse event cases originating in pre-market and post-market drugs, biologics, vaccines, devices, and combination products. Oracle has been a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Science R&D Pharmacovigilance Technology Solutions and Consulting Services 2025 Vendor Assessment (doc # US53669225, July 2025). To learn more about Oracle’s pharmacovigilance portfolio visit: https://www.oracle.com/life-sciences/safety-solutions/argus-safety-case-management/. Trademarks: Oracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

Derek Grimes, EVP, Global Head of Clinical Research at QPS Holdings, LLC.