(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 08.29.2024).- Pope Francis’s prayer intention for September is for the cry of the Earth, which “has a fever and is sick, just like anyone who’s sick.” As part of the Season of Creation – that annual period of time in which the Church traditionally mobilizes itself to reflect on the care of our common home – it is a powerful call to “deal with the environmental crisis caused by humans.”
In his video message, produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, with the help of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Pope Francis asks if we “are listening” to the pain of the Earth, to the pain of the “millions of victims of environmental catastrophes,” and asks humanity to respond not only with “responses that are not only ecological, but are also social, economic and political.”
Humanity and creation
Hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, drought, melting glaciers: the cry of the Earth, can be heard more and more, as reported in the The Pope Video for September. The images accompanying Pope Francis’s words demonstrate the effects of the climate crisis on human beings: people fleeing environmental catastrophes, emigrants on the rise due to the effects of the climate, children forced to travel dozens of kilometres in search of a little water. “The ones suffering most from the consequences of natural disasters are the poor, those who are forced to leave their homes because of floods, heat waves or drought.”
Pope Francis’s concerns are being backed by reputable studies. According to the World Economic Forum, the lowest income countries produce one-tenth of emissions, yet they are the most heavily affected by climate change It is estimated that by 2050, unchecked climate change might force more than 200 million people to migrate within their own countries, pushing up to 130 million people into poverty.
For Pope Francis, “the fight against poverty” and “the protection of nature” are two parallel paths that must be trodden in the same way by “changing our personal and community habits.” Humanity, the victim of the environmental crisis, can therefore also be the architect for change. And the images in The Pope Video demonstrate just that: from waste management to mobility, from agriculture to politics itself – there is so much to do and it all depends on us. For humanity’s destiny and the destiny of creation cannot be separated, as Pope Francis has reiterated during his Pontificate, first in his encyclical Laudato si’ (2015) and later with his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (2023)
Hope and act with Creation
These reflections are also in line with the Pope’s message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2024, whose theme is “Hope and act with Creation,” inspired by the Letter to the Romans. “The protection of creation, then, is not only an ethical issue, but one that is eminently theological, for it is the point where the mystery of man and the mystery of God intersect,” the Pope reflects in his message. And he adds, “At stake is not only our earthly life in history, but also, and above all, our future in eternity.”
The Season of Creation – an initiative of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which promotes the celebration of life and the protection of God’s creation –begins on 1 September and ends on 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assis, the patron saint of ecology.
It was precisely the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development that collaborated on The Pope Video this month. Its Prefect, Cardinal Michael Czerny, says, “Creation is groaning. Its suffering is caused by humans who were originally its guardian and are now it’s subjugator, who ‘arrogantly places the Earth in a “dis-graced” condition, deprived of God’s grace.’” However, in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the Holy Father invites us as Christians to hope and to act with Creation, which we could translate as ‘living in Faith.’ It’s about listening to the Holy Spirit who is love, not only toward our neighbour, but also toward Creation which is the work of God and is, therefore, interconnected with humanity. Only by liberating the Earth from the condition of slavery to which we have subjected it can we liberate ourselves as well, anticipating the joy of our salvation in Christ.”
Hearing the cry of creation
Father Frédéric Fornos S.J., International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, reflects, “the Earth is crying. Along with the cry of the Earth, we also hear the cry of the victims of natural disasters and climate change which is most acutely and directly affecting the countries with fewer resources. Let’s not turn our heads; let’s not be indifferent. Recalling these last two years, let’s put names and faces to these calamities and tragedies experienced in many countries – the huge forest fires in Canada that devastated millions of acres and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes; the devastating bushfires in Australia that killed millions of animals and destroyed their natural habitats; the catastrophic floods in Pakistan that submerged a third of the country, causing hundreds of deaths and millions of displaced persons; the flash floods in Germany and Belgium that claimed lives and destroyed infrastructure; the severe drought in the Amazon that threatens the unique biodiversity of that region; the heat waves in India that caused hundreds of deaths and created unsustainable living conditions for millions of people; the devastating hurricanes in the United States and the Caribbean that have caused massive destruction and loss of human life. The Earth is crying.
“Like a high-speed train forced to stop for a moment in the countryside, the pandemic could have been the time to listen, to take stock of where we were going, to redirect our societies, our lives, before it was too late, protecting our common home…but so many interests blinded us. Pope Francis invites us to pray, for only prayer can awaken our anesthetized hearts.”
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