CNS PHOTO | ROMEO RANOCO, REUTERS A boy and his younger brother eat their free meals May 22 during a feeding program at a slum area in Manila, Philippines.

Finding a solution to the "ongoing scandal" of worldwide hunger should be a top priority, said the Vatican's representative to the United Nations.

Addressing a UN General Assembly meeting on sustainable development goals May 23, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called it "a shame that so many of the poor people in the world continue to find themselves helpless victims of chronic hunger."

He urged the UN to find "sustainable models of food security and nutrition" to end hunger for nearly one billion people worldwide.

The international community, he noted, can "produce sufficient food for every human being."

Chullikatt called the lack of access to adequate food and nutrition "a moral and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by man-made policies and practices."

Those policies include failing to provide access to markets for producers in developing nations, diverting food resources from consumption to energy production, waste of food and armed conflicts, he said.