Pope's appeal for the environment: 'Our earth is falling into ruin'

"In different parts of the world it is now evident that our earth is falling into ruin. Everywhere injustice, violation of international law and peoples' rights, inequality and greed are producing deforestation, pollution, loss of biodiversity. Extreme natural phenomena caused by anthropogenically induced climate change are increasing in intensity and frequency, without considering the medium and long-term effects of human and ecological devastation brought about by armed conflicts". This was written by the Pope in his Message for the X World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation..

For Pope Leo XIV, 'there still seems to be a lack of awareness that destroying nature does not affect everyone in the same way: trampling on justice and peace means hitting the poorest, the marginalised, the excluded the hardest. The suffering of indigenous communities is emblematic in this respect'. "And this is not enough: nature itself sometimes becomes an instrument of exchange, a commodity to be negotiated for economic or political gain. In these dynamics, creation is transformed into a battlefield - the Pontiff emphasises - for the control of vital resources, as witnessed by the agricultural areas and forests that have become dangerous because of mines, the policy of 'scorched earth', the conflicts that erupt around water sources, the unequal distribution of raw materials, penalising the weakest populations and undermining social stability itself".

The wounds to the earth "are due to sin". Pope Leo emphasises this in his Message for the Tenth World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. "Environmental justice, implicitly announced by the prophets, can no longer be considered an abstract concept or a distant goal. It represents an urgent need," the Pontiff emphasised, "which goes beyond mere environmental protection. It is actually a question of social, economic and anthropological justice. For believers, moreover, it is a theological need, which for Christians has the face of Jesus Christ, in whom everything was created and redeemed'. For Pope Leo, "in a world where the most fragile are the first to suffer the devastating effects of climate change, deforestation, and pollution, caring for creation becomes a matter of faith and humanity. It is high time to follow words with deeds". "By working with dedication and tenderness, many seeds of justice can sprout, thus contributing to peace and hope," the Pope concluded.