Pope Francis’ new book, “Our Mother Earth,” will be published by the Vatican Publishing House [Libreria Editrice Vaticana] on October 24, 2019, reported Vatican News.
With a Prologue written by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, the work is a compilation of the addresses, messages and homilies in which Pope Francis refers to the defense of the environment and appeals for the promotion of a worthy life for all peoples.
Among all the included documents, is an unpublished text of the Holy Father, in which he requests that we ask forgiveness for all the harm caused to our planet.
Forgiveness and Repentance
Although the book won’t be published until next Thursday, the 24th, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published extracts of the Pontiff’s book reproduced by the Vatican Publishing House.
In one of the extracts, the Holy Father says that without people’s true repentance about their lifestyle, the fight for the protection of the environment will be futile. “I sincerely hope for growth in awareness and true repentance on the part of us all, men and women of the 21st century, believers or not, and on the part of our societies, for allowing ourselves to be carried away by logics that divide, create hunger, isolate and condemn. It would be good to ask the poor <and> the excluded for forgiveness. Then we could repent sincerely, including for the harm done to the earth, the sea, the air, the animals . . . “
The Pontiff also points out the need to ask for forgiveness and to grant pardon, “actions that are only possible in the Holy Spirit, because He is the architect of communion, which opens the closures of individuals. And much love is needed to put aside one’s pride, to realize that one was mistaken and to have the hope that new paths are really possible.”
Repentance, indicates the Bishop of Rome, “is a grace to be humbly implored from the Lord Jesus Christ, so that our generation will be remembered in history not for its errors, but for <its> humility and wisdom to have been able to change direction.”
Goodness and Love
Another extract published by the Italian newspaper points out the connection of everything “in goodness and love,” as “every lack of love has repercussions on everything.”
Pope Francis believes that the ecological crisis we are experiencing today is “one of the effects, with the passage of time, of our sick look on ourselves, on others <and> on the world — a sick look that does not let us perceive everything as a gift offered to discover ourselves loved.”
Other Questions
The Pope also points out that at present there is the awareness that phenomena, such as contamination, climate change, desertification, environmental migration, unsustainable consumption of the planet’s resources, acidification of the oceans and the decrease in biodiversity, “are inseparable aspects of social inequity.”
As reported by Vatican News, the Holy Father also writes in the book about the growing concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few, about the so-called welfare societies, about the crazy military expenses, about the throwaway culture, and about the world’s lack of consideration from the point of view of the peripheries, as well as about the lack of protection of children and minors, of vulnerable elderly people and of the unborn.
