HONG KONG, (AP) The Times of London ran a cartoon offering its "solution" to the world food crisis as leaders gathered for their recent Rome summit: It showed Pope Benedict XVI holding a cross in his left hand and a packet of "extra safe" condoms in his right.
I immediately thought of the wise comment of Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson) years ago: If hungry people ask you for bread and you offer the pill (then the contraceptive of choice), don't be surprised if they spit in your face.
The Times was not alone in failing to comprehend what is at stake: The summit leaders offered only predictable platitudes in making their commitment "to eliminating hunger and to securing food for all, today and tomorrow."