“I can say that in the UN, the Encyclical was very well received,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, in regard to the reactions aroused by Laudato Si’, during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Archbishop Auza’s words come just over a month before Pope Francis’ visit to the United Nations in New York. A visit that Archbishop Auza describes as “a great event,” which is “greatly awaited,” demonstrated by the “thousands of requests for tickets that unfortunately we cannot give.”
“As part of my work at the UN, listening to the official interventions of Member Countries of the Organization – especially of developing countries – and those of the great international organizations that deal with the economy and trade, I believe in fact that I have understood that there is a greater awareness regarding the importance of comprehending a more integral economy, as the Pope has said.”
Archbishop Auza also stressed that “an economy more attentive to the poor, more attentive to the ecology, is precisely the spirit that the UN wants to put at the center of the Agenda on sustainable development until 2030.”
According to the Vatican’s Observer, the Holy Father’s Encyclical will also influence the Paris Conference this coming November-December. “But I think, speaking also with the delegations, that the inspiration and — I would even say — the philosophy, the moral theology that pushes States, men and women to reach an agreement, the Pope already gave in this Encyclical,” Archbishop Auza concluded.
