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Urgent action is needed to heal our wounded creation, Pope Francis and the world’s Orthodox Christian spiritual leader, Patriarch Bartholomew I said in a joint appeal to the world last Friday.
Both Catholic and Orthodox churches marked Friday as a day of prayer for God’s creation.
The two spiritual leaders say the world’s state of degradation is a result of “moral decay” and “our insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources and our greed for limitless profit in markets.”
Climate change and other environmental ills have created an ecological crisis that is harming the world’s poorest the most, they say.
People are part of creation and generations to come will suffer unless concrete and collective action is taken, they warn.
“The human environment and the natural environment are deteriorating together, and this deterioration of the planet weighs upon the most vulnerable of its people.
“The impact of climate change affects, first and foremost, those who live in poverty in every corner of the globe. Our obligation to use the earth’s goods responsibly implies the recognition of and respect for all people and all living creatures.
“The urgent call and challenge to care for creation are an invitation for all of humanity to work towards sustainable and integral development.”
Rubbishing the “alternative worldview” that considers nature as a private possession to be exploited regardless of the cost, the two leaders said they “urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as well as political and cultural, responsibility to hear the cry of the Earth …”.
We must “attend to the needs of the marginalized, but above all to respond to the plea of millions and support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation.
“We are convinced that there can be no sincere and enduring resolution to the challenge of the ecological crisis and climate change unless the response is concerted and collective, unless the responsibility is shared and accountable, unless we give priority to solidarity and service.”
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