The food emergency has been one of the issues discussed by card. Angelo Bagnasco in the central part of his opening speech for the 58th general assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference, opened in the Vatican on Monday evening. Speaking of the "abrupt rise in prices, due to the rise in oil prices", Bagnasco highlighted that this event "is endangering the survival of at least 100 million people, who are by now unable to see to their bare necessities". The situation is so bad that he stated "it is estimated that 25 thousand people die every day from starvation and related diseases. Not to mention that in some countries (Egypt, Haiti, the Philippines …) riots have burst out because of such abrupt rise in prices". The president of the Italian Bishops made an invitation: "A wave of effective solidarity must come up he said , so as to mobilise public resources as well as private aids, and while we help them we will also have to introduce new rules to change such unfair conditions". Mentioning the 40th anniversary of the "Populorum Progressio", he also added that, compared with the years in which it was issued, "what does not change is the state of inequality between poor and wealthy countries, the inexorable poverty that it produces, the endless conflicts". So he made an exhortation to work for "a sustainable development".
