Pope at audience on Earth Day:
common action needed to protect “our garden-home”
Holding his weekly general audience on the 50th Earth Day on
Wednesday, Pope Francis called for common action and ecological conversion that
lead to a deeper love for our common home and our brothers and sisters,
especially the most vulnerable.
By Robin Gomes
Celebrating the 50th Earth Day on Tuesday,
Pope Francis pointed out that the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us
that we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one
another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst.
Biblical origins
The Pope, who dedicated his 2015 enclyclical, “Laudato Si”,
to the care of the created world, noted that we are fashioned from the earth and
that the fruit of the earth sustains our life. As the book of Genesis
reminds us, we are not simply “earthly”; we also bear within us the ‘breath of life’
that comes from God. Thus, he said, we live in this common home as one
human family in biodiversity with God’s other creatures.
As the ‘image of God’, the Pope said, we are called to care
for and respect all creatures, and to offer love and compassion to our brothers
and sisters, especially the most vulnerable among us, in imitation of God’s
love for us, manifested in his Son Jesus.
Selfishness
However, because of our selfishness, we have failed in our
responsibility to be guardians and stewards of the earth. We have polluted and
despoiled it, endangering our very lives. In this regard, the Pope
expressed appreciation for the various international and local movements who
are appealing to our consciences. Our children, he said, have taken to
the streets to teach us that “we have no future if we destroy the very
environment that sustains us”.
“Gospel of Creation”, “our garden-home”
By failing to care for “our garden-home”, the earth,
and our brothers and sisters, the Pope said, we have sinned against the
earth, against our neighbours, and ultimately against the Creator. Hence,
we need to look at our common home, the earth, in a new way, in order to
restore a harmonious relationship with the earth and with the rest of
humanity.
We should not regard the earth as a “storehouse of resources
for us to exploit”. For believers, the Pope said, the natural world is
the “Gospel of Creation” as it expresses God’s creative power in fashioning
human life and bringing the world and all it contains into existence, in order
to sustain humanity.
The Pope called on all to renew their sense of sacred
respect for the earth, saying “is not just our home but also God’s home”, and
that ‘we stand on holy ground’.
In this regard, he held up the indigenous people as a model
saying, “they teach us that we cannot heal the earth unless we love and respect
it”.
Ecological conversion and common action
The Holy Father said that an ecological conversion with
concrete actions is needed in order to avert the threats to our common home.
In this regard, he asked leaders to guide the preparations for two
important international conferences: COP15 on Biodiversity in
Kunming, China [October 2020], and COP26 on Climate Change in
Glasgow, UK [November 2020].
At the local and national levels, the Pope encouraged the
creation of a popular movement “from below”, noting that the Earth Day was born
this way. “We can each contribute in our own small way,” he urged.
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