Pope Francis has sounded a clear warning about respect for the environment – if we destroy creation, then creation will destroy us.
At his general audience on May 21, the Pope said polluting or destroying the environment amounts to telling God one doesn’t like his creation.
Safeguarding creation is safeguarding a gift from God, he continued.
“This must be our attitude toward creation – safeguarding it. If not, if we destroy creation, creation will destroy us. Don’t forget that!”
Speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Pope said the gift of knowledge helps us see the environment with God’s eyes.
We can recognise its beauty and see it as a sign of God’s love for men and women, who are the crown of God’s creation, he explained.
“Creation is not a property that we can dominate at our pleasure nor does it belong to only a few,” the Pope said. ”
One day before the Pope’s comments, the National Catholic Reporter in the US issued an editorial under the heading “Climate Change is church’s No. 1 pro-life issue”.
“If there is a certain wisdom in the pro-life assertion that other rights become meaningless if the right to life is not upheld, then it is reasonable to assert that the right to life has little meaning if the earth is destroyed to the point where life becomes unsustainable,” the editorial argued.
Noting the threat to humans from climate change reported in the third US National Climate Assessment, the NCR stated the problem is enormous.
“But so is the opportunity for the Church to use its resources, its access to some of the best experts in its academies and the attention of those in its parochial structures to begin to educate,” the editorial continued.
“This is a human life issue of enormous proportions, and one in which the young should be fully engaged.”
A five day sustainability summit was recently held at the Vatican.
Sources