Somalia starving: Leo XIV calls the nations to its aid

At the end of the Angelus, this Sunday 20 September 2026, Leo XIV said he was following “with great concern” the humanitarian crisis striking several regions of Somalia. He asked for “a generous commitment from the international community, so that these brothers and sisters may not lack the assistance they need.”

The fifth commandment does not only forbid the taking of life: it binds us to preserve it in our neighbour. He who, having the power, lets the starving perish makes himself a sharer in his death. To feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty: these corporal works of mercy are not the ornament of charity, they are its duty, and the Lord will make them the matter of His judgement. “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat.” Where a whole people lacks bread and water, alms cease to be a counsel and become an obligation binding nations as it binds men.

Somalia faces yet another prolonged drought, aggravated by armed violence. Estimates differ between agencies: between nearly five and six million people are said to be exposed to acute hunger, a figure reported to have doubled since the beginning of 2025; up to nearly two million children are said to lack sufficient water and food, and about 1.9 million minors are counted in acute malnutrition, nearly half a million of them in its severe form. The Pope recalled that “episodes of violence and extreme climatic phenomena aggravate the already precarious living conditions of the population, especially of women and children.” The appeal prescribes nothing to States: it sets them before the duty that the law of God inscribes in every conscience.

Sources. Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), on the fifth commandment and the corporal works of mercy; Gospel according to Saint Matthew XXV, 35-40 (Douay-Rheims, Vulgate); Book of Isaias LVIII, 7 (Douay-Rheims, Vulgate).