Catholic Relief Services to receive $235 million in food aid for Sudan, Ethiopia
The USDA will provide up to $235 million via Catholic Relief Services to supply emergency food and nutrition aid to Sudan and Ethiopia, delivering over 110,000 metric tons of U.S.-grown agricultural commodities. The aid program is part of the Food for Peace Act and leverages CRS’s operational footprints, including the Sudan Emergency Project and the Joint Emergency Operation in Ethiopia. CRS President Sean Callahan highlighted the partnership’s role in connecting American farmers with vulnerable communities and emphasized the organization’s monitoring and oversight mechanisms to ensure aid reaches intended recipients. Experts note that the absence of a U.S. presence in the field could increase risks of fraud and waste, stressing the need for coordination and oversight.
3 months ago
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to channel up to $235 million in Food for Peace assistance through Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to address acute hunger in Sudan and Ethiopia. More than 110,000 metric tons of U.S.–grown agricultural commodities will be shipped under the deal, which is authorized by Title II of the Food for Peace Act and builds on CRS’s existing emergency projects in the two countries. 1 2
How does the Catholic Church’s humanitarian policy shape global food aid?
The Catholic Church’s humanitarian policy shapes global food aid less like a “separate charity bucket” and more like a moral framework that influences what food aid is for, how it is delivered, and what constraints it must respect—placing the human person and the common good at the center, while insisting on solidarity that works together with subsidiarity and respect for dignity.
Catholic teaching presents humanitarian aid—especially in situations of hunger—as an expression of solidarity: not occasional generosity, but a “way of making history” by thinking and acting in terms of community, where “the lives of all are prior” to any appropriation of goods by a few.
That solidarity must be concrete. Pope Francis emphasizes that solidarity finds expression in service that “cares for vulnerability,” and that service is not ideological—“we do not serve ideas, we serve people.”
In the context of politics and international cooperation, the Church further insists that charity is a “preferential love shown to those in greatest need.” This means food aid is not merely technical logistics; it is morally judged by whether it recognizes the poor with their dignity and avoids reducing them to passivity.
The Holy See’s UN advocacy makes this even more direct for food assistance: it recalls that every human person has a right to “the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food,” and urges States to meet basic needs above partisan interests.
A distinctive element of Catholic humanitarian policy is the pairing of solidarity with subsidiarity. The Church warns that subsidiarity without solidarity can slide into social privatism, while solidarity without subsidiarity can become paternalistic assistance that demeans the needy.
Applied to development aid and by extension many food-aid programs, this shaping role appears in several program-design principles:
Caritas in Veritate warns that aid can lock people into dependence and even contribute to localized oppression or exploitation, even if donors intend good.
So Catholic humanitarian policy tends to favor approaches that strengthen local capacity rather than “substitute” for local agency.
The Church teaches that aid must be distributed with the involvement of more than governments of receiving countries—also local economic agents and bearers of culture within civil society, including local Churches.
It also calls for aid programs to gain “characteristics of participation and completion from the grass roots.”
This has direct consequences for global food aid: communities are not merely recipients, but should be meaningfully involved in planning and implementation, rather than treated as passive beneficiaries.
Catholic social teaching also limits the purposes of assistance: economic aid “must not pursue secondary objectives.”
In practice, this supports food aid strategies focused on feeding the hungry and building resilience, rather than using hunger as leverage for unrelated political or ideological projects.
Catholic humanitarian policy shapes global food aid by condemning ways of distributing food that violate human dignity.
For example, the Holy See’s UN statement stresses the need to avoid treating foodstuffs as “mere commodities to be awarded to the highest bidder.”
That principle aligns with Church critiques of a consumerist or “every man for himself” mindset, which can degenerate into social breakdown worse than a crisis itself.
So Catholic policy does not only ask whether aid reaches people, but also how market logic and political bargaining are allowed to shape access to the basic means of life.
A major way the Church shapes food aid globally is by insisting that hunger cannot be separated from the broader moral reality of security and human development.
Pope Leo XIV (in a 2026 address after visiting WFP headquarters) argues that conflicts are “fed” more readily than people are nourished, and that hunger erodes social cohesion, increases risk of conflict, and fuels forced migration.
Therefore, food aid policy is pushed toward an “integral approach to security” that aims to alleviate global food insecurity as a serious affront to human dignity.
The Holy See urges States to:
This is a concrete “operational” influence: humanitarian access is not treated as neutral logistics; it becomes an ethical requirement protecting the conditions of nourishment.
The Holy See stresses that economic sanctions should avoid negative effects on local and global food security or on the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The Church also links climate change to hunger through impacts on local food systems and higher conflict risks, urging urgent action to fight climate change.
Thus, Catholic humanitarian policy shapes food aid not just as emergency delivery, but as part of resilience-building and prevention.
Catholic teaching also presses for transparency and practical effectiveness.
Leo XIV emphasizes reducing “unnecessary bureaucracy” so transparency and accountability serve people rather than impede assistance. He also notes that when governments lack territorial control or humanitarian access is restricted, trusted local partners become indispensable—and highlights the Church’s role through parishes, dioceses, Caritas agencies, and faith-based initiatives.
Benedict XVI similarly warns that international organizations and NGOs should commit to transparency about income allocation, program content, and detailed expenditure, and he criticizes situations where recipients become subordinate to aid-givers and expensive bureaucracies consume funds intended for development.
Catholic policy can also shape food aid by rejecting how aid sometimes becomes linked to practices that violate the dignity of the human person.
Caritas in Veritate notes concerns that development aid may be linked to health policies involving “the imposition of strong birth control measures,” including allegations of coercive or unjust export of such policies to other states.
While this is discussed in the broader context of development and respect for life, it informs Catholic humanitarian expectations: assistance should not be used to condition recipients’ access to basic help on morally unacceptable practices.
The Church’s policy influence shows up through advocacy for institutions and program structures:
Leo XIV presents WFP as a “concrete expression of international solidarity,” arguing that humanitarian action is not extraneous to the international order and reflects shared responsibility toward those in vulnerable situations.
He calls for renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation and increased resources dedicated to combating hunger and its root causes.
He explicitly encourages WFP and partners to continue supporting Church and civil society efforts, including the Church’s capacity to reach vulnerable populations where access is restricted.
In the U.S. context, Catholic bishops’ policy input supports reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of international food aid—such as removing requirements and improving “local ownership” for school feeding programs.
Even though this is national legislation input, it illustrates the Church’s general humanitarian approach: align aid mechanisms with dignity, effectiveness, and local participation rather than purely donor-driven constraints.
Catholic humanitarian policy shapes global food aid by insisting that:
In short: Catholic humanitarian policy turns “food aid” into an instrument of justice and solidarity—focused on feeding people now while also building the conditions that allow communities to feed themselves.