The pope will oversee work on migration and refugees within the new dicastery, or department, which will absorb the offices for justice and peace, human and Christian development, immigration, and health workers.
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As a corporal work of mercy, he said, it “requires simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness and makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world”.
The declaration on caring for the environment was issued Thursday as part of the Catholic Church’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
The Pope said that the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation was instituted in order to give believers an opportunity to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation”. The spiritual works include such acts as admonishing sinners and praying for others.
He added that “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God”.
“This is really the final step of ecological conversion, a true internalization of an ecological sensibility”, he said, echoing Pope Francis’ own words that that caring for creation is truly a “complement (to) both the spiritual and corporal works of mercy”.
Nigerian Cardinal Peter Turkson, the pope’s point man on the environment, said: “The first step 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 specter of climate change”.
In a document known as a Motu Proprio, Latin for “by his own initiative”, the pope said he would merge four Vatican offices into a “Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development” starting on January 1. “Are we ready to respond to the Holy Father’s invitation – and challenge?”
Terrence Ward, author of the book The Guardian of Mercy and a panelist at the Vatican launch of the new document, said the works of mercy Francis is asking people to perform are “not about changing the world tomorrow”. “2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still”. “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence”.
Having presented his case, the Jesuit pope emphasized the need for an examination of conscience at the individual and community level, and the need to repent and change course. It also furnishes an occasion to thank God for the gift of creation, to implore his help for its protection and to beg “his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live”.
Among these are “avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices”.
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Francis said that economics, politics, society and culture can not be dominated by thinking only of the short-term and immediate financial or electoral gains, and he went on to suggest that more ambitious plans ought to be set into action. “We need new calls for responsibility”, he told Reuters.
