The founder of Mary's Meals – the charity set up to help feed the poorest
children in the world – has travelled to the Vatican at the invitation of
Pope Francis.
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, who set up the organisation in 2002, was invited to
Rome after the Pope heard about his work within the Catholic community.
His charity, which was one of the organisations previously
supported by The Telegraph's Christmas Appeal, provides food for
750,000 children every school day.
Mr MacFarlane-Barrow said: "It was a huge privilege and blessing to meet
the Holy Father today and represent everyone involved in the mission of
Mary's Meals. I presented Pope Francis with the blue Mary's Meals mug and let him know
we are now reaching over three quarters of a million children every school
day – many of them having escaped the rubbish dumps where they used to
scavenge for their next meal, or the fields where they worked. He gave us a
blessing, which we were very grateful for."
Pope Francis held a general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday
morning, before meeting Mr MacFarlane-Barrow and his wife.
The Scotsman was inspired to start the charity by a visit to Malawi during the
2002 famine, where he met a 14-year-old boy, Edward, who told him: "I
want to have enough food to eat and to go to school one day".
Mary's Meals began by feeding 200 children in a school in Malawi, and now provides daily sustenance for children in schools in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Pope Francis has made championing the poor a key pillar of his papacy.
Earlier this year he said: "Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. We all have to think if we can become a little poorer, all of us have to do this."
Mary's Meals began by feeding 200 children in a school in Malawi, and now provides daily sustenance for children in schools in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Pope Francis has made championing the poor a key pillar of his papacy.
Earlier this year he said: "Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. We all have to think if we can become a little poorer, all of us have to do this."