Pope to address food security summit

VATICAN CITY, Italy, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI is to call for global cooperation in addressing hunger when he speaks at the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, the Vatican said.

The pope is to deliver the keynote address Monday at the summit organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, ANSA reported Saturday.

The summit aims to give new "momentum to the fight against hunger and malnutrition" affecting more than a billion people worldwide, the U.N. group said in a statement Friday.

The world's population is expected to grow by 50 percent and reach 9 billion by 2050, making it critical that countries cooperate to ensure food security for all, said the U.N. group, based in Rome.