Pope Francis attacked what he called a "culture of waste," which has developed in our consumerist world. During his weekly address in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, the pope also said throwing away food was like stealing from poor people.

"Our grandparents used to make a point of not throwing away leftover food. Consumerism has made us accustomed to wasting food daily and we are unable to see its real value," the pope said, Yahoo! News reports.

"Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry," he added.

Pope Francis' remarks coincided with United Nations' anti-food waste campaign to mark World Environment Day, The Washington Post reports.

The pope also warned that a "culture of waste" and consumerism have made people focus too much on materialism and money rather than the prevalent human suffering in the world: "some homeless people die of cold on the streets, it is not news. In contrast, a 10-point drop on the stock markets of some cities, is a tragedy."

"In this way people are discarded as if they were garbage," Pope Francis said.

According to the United Nations' food agency, around 1.43 billion tons of food, or one third of what is produced for human consumption, gets lost or goes to waste every year.

In the United States, 30 percent of all food is thrown away each year.

A study backed by the UN released this week suggested simple measures such as better storage and reducing over-sized portions to help sharply reduce the amount of food going to waste.

Since taking office in March, the Argentine pope has been an advocate for the poor. He practices austerity himself at the Vatican, living in a guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments and cutting down on elaborate vestments and liturgies, according to The Washington Post. He has frequently asked the 1.2 billion people in the Roman Catholic Church to defend the poor.