Specifically regarding a loss of biodiversity, the Pope suggested that now there are fewer species to give glory to God.
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Catholics now subscribe to seven corporal and seven spiritual “works of mercy” – obligations that include sheltering the homeless, visiting prisoners and burying the dead.
Pope Francis called on Thursday for concerted action against environmental degradation and climate change, renewing his fierce attack on consumerism and financial greed, which, he said, were threatening the planet. “The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact”, Francis noted.
Lamenting “the devastation of the environment”, Francis said that “God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland of debris, desolation and filth”.
“Instead, they urgently need to be redirected to the common good, which includes sustainability and care for creation”, Francis said.
“The first step in this process 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 spectre of climate change-which seems nearer and more unsafe with each passing year”.
It will be headed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, who since March 2013 has served as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Francis has followed in the footsteps of his two predecessors in traveling to Assisi for the prayer event, which is organized each year by the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio alongside Assisi’s Franciscan friars.
Francis has made clear that the refugee crisis facing Europe, the Middle East and the Americas is the priority of his pontificate and has vowed to fight what he calls today’s “globalization of indifference”.
“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.
“When we mistreat nature, we also mistreat human beings”, Francis said.
While praising the adoption of the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, Pope Francis called on world leaders to honor their commitments in halting the rise of global temperatures and on citizens to hold them accountable and “advocate for even more ambitious goals”.
Since biblical times, Christians have been called to carry out 6 acts of mercy, listed in St Matthew’s Gospel – giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoners – with a 7th one, burying the dead, added in medieval times.
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Francis’ message “is the next logical step” after writing Laudato Si, Cardinal Turkson said, because “it is showing us how to internalize its teaching in our lives and in our world”.
