In 1971, eight years after Pacem in Terris, Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological concern as “a tragic consequence” of unchecked human activity: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation”. In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.Ĥ. In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I wrote to all the members of the Church with the aim of encouraging ongoing missionary renewal. Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet. He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the entire “Catholic world” and indeed “to all men and women of good will”.
More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclical which not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace. Nothing in this world is indifferent to usģ. Gen 2:7) our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor she “groans in travail” ( Rom 8:22). The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.
This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”.
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