Marking the September 1st day of prayer for creation, the Pope further strengthened his bona fides as an environmentalist, calling upon all Catholics to lower their carbon footprints and become advocates for long-term economic and political systems that are just and sustainable instead of being focused on short-term profits and politics.
Pope Francis
Photo Credit: Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The head of the Vatican Office for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal Peter Turkson, summarized the process as one that begins by recognizing the harm humans have already done by being selfish, greedy, and irresponsible.
He said, “The first step in this process is to humbly acknowledge the harm we are doing to the earth through pollution, the scandalous destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, and the spectre of climate change—which seems nearer and more dangerous with each passing year. And to realize that when we hurt the earth, we also hurt the poor, whom God loves without limit.”
