Also speaking at the press conference introducing the new document, Terence Ward, the author of The Guardian of Mercy, said that care for the environment should not only be added to the list of works of mercy, but recognized as “the highest work of mercy because it includes all the others”. This year, the day of prayer for the planet falls during Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy, a yearlong focus on the church’s merciful side.
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The petitions chanted during the service included a prayer that God would “educate our eyes to recognize in creation the traces of his presence” and convert people “to a just and fair use of the goods of the earth”.
During this Jubilee Year, let us learn to implore God’s mercy for those sins against creation that we have not hitherto acknowledged and confessed.
“This means that we must examine our consciences and repent”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will join Pope Francis in Assisi to mark the 30th anniversary of the first World Day of Prayer in 1986, when leaders representing 32 Christian organisations and 11 other religions converged to pray and fast together. “And to realize that when we hurt the Earth, we also hurt the poor”.
Climate change made an appearance in Thursday’s address as well: “Global warming continues”, Pope Francis writes.
He tied environmental concerns to the growing global migrant crisis.
“As an integral ecology emphasizes, human beings are deeply connected with all of creation”.
When it comes to examples of how to put the human being and human dignity at the center of all we do, Cardinal Turkson pointed to Mother Teresa, who will be canonized Sunday, as a key figure. He called on Catholics to have an “ecological conversion”.
The first step on the path of conversion is to reflect on the harm done to creation by lifestyles inspired by “a distorted culture of prosperity”, which brings about a “disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary”, he stated.
As the Catholic and Orthodox worlds united to celebrate a day of prayer for the care of creation, the Vatican’s social-justice head offered a reminder that the human person must be at the center of efforts to better the environment.
Honest conversion and repentance are shown by a firm resolve to change course and bring about concrete actions that respect creation, such as energy conservation, recycling and caring concern for others.
SEE MORE: The Latest Attempt To Save The World? He also suggested that the “works of mercy” recommended by the Pontiff would differ from the traditional works of corporal and spiritual mercy, in that they would require the involvement of communities and perhaps governments.
“In our rapidly changing and increasingly globalized world, many new forms of poverty are appearing”, Pope Francis stated.
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“Let us likewise commit ourselves to taking concrete steps towards ecological conversion, which requires a clear recognition of our responsibility to ourselves, our neighbours, creation and the Creator”, he said.
