|
Message of the Holy Father Francis for the
Celebration of the World Day of Prayer for the
Care of Creation, 21.07.2022
The following is the Message sent by the Holy
Father Francis on the occasion of the World Day
of Prayer for the Care of Creation (1 September
2022):
Message of the Holy Father
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
FOR THE CARE OF CREATION
1 SEPTEMBER 2022
Dear brothers and sisters!
“Listen to the voice of creation” is the theme
and invitation of this year’s Season of
Creation. The ecumenical phase begins on 1
September with the World Day of Prayer for the
Care of Creation, and concludes on 4 October
with the feast of Saint Francis. It is a special
time for all Christians to pray and work
together to care for our common home. Originally
inspired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople, this Season is an opportunity to
cultivate our “ecological conversion”, a
conversion encouraged by Saint John Paul II as a
response to the “ecological catastrophe”
predicted by Saint Paul VI back in 1970.[1]
If we learn how to listen, we can hear in the
voice of creation a kind of dissonance. On the
one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of
our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished
plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our
common home.
The sweet song of creation invites us to
practise an “ecological spirituality” (Laudato
Si’, 216), attentive to God’s presence in the
natural world. It is a summons to base our
spirituality on the “loving awareness that we
are not disconnected from the rest of creatures,
but joined in a splendid universal communion”
(ibid., 220). For the followers of Christ in
particular, this luminous experience reinforces
our awareness that “all things came into being
through him, and without him not one thing came
into being” (Jn 1:3). In this Season of
Creation, we pray once more in the great
cathedral of creation, and revel in the
“grandiose cosmic choir”[2] made up of countless
creatures, all singing the praises of God. Let
us join Saint Francis of Assisi in singing:
“Praise be to you, my Lord, for all your
creatures” (cf. Canticle of Brother Sun). Let us
join the psalmist in singing, “Let everything
that breathes praise the Lord!” (Ps 150:6).
Tragically, that sweet song is accompanied by a
cry of anguish. Or even better: a chorus of
cries of anguish. In the first place, it is our
sister, mother earth, who cries out. Prey to our
consumerist excesses, she weeps and implores us
to put an end to our abuses and to her
destruction. Then too, there are all those
different creatures who cry out. At the mercy of
a “tyrannical anthropocentrism” (Laudato si’,
68), completely at odds with Christ’s centrality
in the work of creation, countless species are
dying out and their hymns of praise silenced.
There are also the poorest among us who are
crying out. Exposed to the climate crisis, the
poor feel even more gravely the impact of the
drought, flooding, hurricanes and heat waves
that are becoming ever more intense and
frequent. Likewise, our brothers and sisters of
the native peoples are crying out. As a result
of predatory economic interests, their ancestral
lands are being invaded and devastated on all
sides, “provoking a cry that rises up to heaven”
(Querida Amazonia, 9). Finally, there is the
plea of our children. Feeling menaced by
shortsighted and selfish actions, today’s young
people are crying out, anxiously asking us
adults to do everything possible to prevent, or
at least limit, the collapse of our planet’s
ecosystems.
Listening to these anguished cries, we must
repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive
systems. From its very first pages, the Gospel
calls us to “repent, because the kingdom of
heaven has come near” (Mt 3:2); it summons us to
a new relationship with God, and also entails a
different relationship with others and with
creation. The present state of decay of our
common home merits the same attention as other
global challenges such as grave health crises
and wars. “Living our vocation to be protectors
of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of
virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary
aspect of our Christian experience” (Laudato si’,
217).
As persons of faith, we feel ourselves even more
responsible for acting each day in accordance
with the summons to conversion. Nor is that
summons simply individual: “the ecological
conversion needed to bring about lasting change
is also a community conversion” (ibid., 219). In
this regard, commitment and action, in a spirit
of maximum cooperation, is likewise demanded of
the community of nations, especially in the
meetings of the United Nations devoted to the
environmental question.
The COP27 conference on climate change, to be
held in Egypt in November 2022 represents the
next opportunity for all to join in promoting
the effective implementation of the Paris
Agreement. For this reason too, I recently
authorized the Holy See, in the name of and on
behalf of the Vatican City State, to accede to
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Paris Agreement, in the hope that the
humanity of the 21st century “will be remembered
for having generously shouldered its grave
responsibilities” (ibid., 65). The effort to
achieve the Paris goal of limiting temperature
increase to 1.5°C is quite demanding; it calls
for responsible cooperation between all nations
in presenting climate plans or more ambitious
nationally determined contributions in order to
reduce to zero, as quickly as possible, net
greenhouse gas emissions. This means
“converting” models of consumption and
production, as well as lifestyles, in a way more
respectful of creation and the integral human
development of all peoples, present and future,
a development grounded in responsibility,
prudence/precaution, solidarity, concern for the
poor and for future generations. Underlying all
this, there is need for a covenant between human
beings and the environment, which, for us
believers, is a mirror reflecting “the creative
love of God, from whom we come and towards whom
we are journeying”.[3] The transition brought
about by this conversion cannot neglect the
demands of justice, especially for those workers
who are most affected by the impact of climate
change.
For its part, the COP15 summit on biodiversity,
to be held in Canada in December, will offer to
the goodwill of governments a significant
opportunity to adopt a new multilateral
agreement to halt the destruction of ecosystems
and the extinction of species. According to the
ancient wisdom of the Jubilee, we need to
“remember, return, rest and restore”.[4] In
order to halt the further collapse of
biodiversity, our God-given “network of life”,
let us pray and urge nations to reach agreement
on four key principles: 1. to construct a clear
ethical basis for the changes needed to save
biodiversity; 2. to combat the loss of
biodiversity, to support conservation and
cooperation, and to satisfy people’s needs in a
sustainable way; 3. to promote global solidarity
in light of the fact that biodiversity is a
global common good demanding a shared
commitment; and 4. to give priority to people in
situations of vulnerability, including those
most affected by the loss of biodiversity, such
as indigenous peoples, the elderly and the
young.
Let me repeat: “In the name of God, I ask the
great extractive industries – mining, oil,
forestry, real estate, agribusiness – to stop
destroying forests, wetlands, and mountains, to
stop polluting rivers and seas, to stop
poisoning food and people”.[5]
How can we fail to acknowledge the existence of
an “ecological debt” (Laudato si’, 51) incurred
by the economically richer countries, who have
polluted most in the last two centuries; this
demands that they take more ambitious steps at
COP27 and at COP15. In addition to determined
action within their borders, this means keeping
their promises of financial and technical
support for the economically poorer nations,
which are already experiencing most of the
burden of the climate crisis. It would also be
fitting to give urgent consideration to further
financial support for the conservation of
biodiversity. Even the economically less wealthy
countries have significant albeit “diversified”
responsibilities (cf. ibid., 52) in this regard;
delay on the part of others can never justify
our own failure to act. It is necessary for all
of us to act decisively. For we are reaching “a
breaking point” (cf. ibid., 61).
During this Season of Creation, let us pray that
COP27 and COP15 can serve to unite the human
family (cf. ibid., 13) in effectively
confronting the double crisis of climate change
and the reduction of biodiversity. Mindful of
the exhortation of Saint Paul to rejoice with
those who rejoice and to weep with those who
weep (cf. Rom 12:15), let us weep with the
anguished plea of creation. Let us hear that
plea and respond to it with deeds, so that we
and future generations can continue to rejoice
in creation’s sweet song of life and hope.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 16 July 2022, Memorial
of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
FRANCIS
___________________
[1] Address to F.A.O., 16 November 1970.
[2] SAINT JOHN PAUL II, General Audience, 10
July 2002.
[3] Address to the Meeting “Faith and Science
towards COP26”, 4 October 2021.
[4] Message for the World Day of Prayer for the
Care of Creation, 1
|