Farm Forward board member gives keynote address in the presence of Pope Francis

Portland, Oregon--(Newsfile Corp. - October 5, 2023) - In the Vatican gardens after a private audience with Pope Francis, author and Farm Forward founding board member, Jonathan Safran Foer gave a keynote address responding to the pope's new Apostolic Exhortation, Laudaute Deum, where Foer urged eating fewer animal products and food systems reform as powerful ways to respond to the pope's call to address climate change. Foer emphasized the need for policy level change, and following the pope's lead, argued that individual actions are often what motivates governmental action. Laudate Deum, addressed "to all people of good will" is a follow-up to the pope's influential 2015 encyclical Laudato Si', which spoke powerfully against cruelty to animals, and famously called on world leaders to take swift action on climate change.

"What Pope Francis has done is enormously brave. I found myself deeply moved by Laudate Deum, its decisive call to action, and its bright moral core," said Foer. "It emboldened my sense of the possible and of the meaning of individual actions. It reminded me of the deep roots of my own vegetarian commitments and why all of us need to support a more plant-based food system."

While Laudate Deum does not get into the specifics of how to respond to climate change, the pope lays a powerful moral basis for reducing and ultimately ending our dependence on cruel and unsustainable factory farms. By inviting Foer among others who are known as critics of factory farming and advocates for reducing the consumption of animal products to be among the first to interpret Laudate Deum publicly, the Vatican all but endorses a critique of industrial animal agriculture. This could signal the emergence of an unexpected new ally in the fight against industrial agriculture and its destructive effects on climate.

Since its founding in 2007, Farm Forward has invested in changing the public narrative about food and farming. "To change the food system we have to change the core assumptions people have about our diets and relationship to nonhuman animals," said Andrew deCoriolis, Farm Forward's executive director, "This is precisely the significance we see in His Holiness Pope Francis's Exhortation and in Foer's keynote: they remind us that change remains possible and worth fighting for." Farm Forward was proud to support Foer's original writing of Eating Animal, the production of the 2018 film adaptation, and to support Eating Animals dissemination in schools and universities around the world. Today, Farm Forward continues its work building the will to end factory farming by combating deception and humanewashing in the meat industry.

About Farm Forward

Farm Forward is a nonprofit that works to implement innovative strategies to promote conscientious food choices, reduce farmed animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture. Farm Forward works to change policy, improve farming practices, and change the stories told about animal agriculture. Their work has improved the lives of more than 400 million farmed animals each year.

Media Contact
Andrew deCoriolis
andrewd@farmforward.com

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