It was truly heartening to hear Pope Francis mention Creation and/or the environment 8 times in the homily he gave during his inaugural Mass.
Let’s hope this serves as a wake-up call to the wider church … that it really IS time to put Creation and the environment on the agenda.
It would be great if it also created renewed interest in the excellent pastoral letter, Cry of the Earth, which the Irish Catholic Bishops produced in 2009. The letter encourages all parishes to sign up to an environmental programme, like Eco-Congregation Ireland.
Pope Francis spoke about developing a vocation of being a ‘protector’, which he described as meaning “protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.”
He said, “Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened.”
He continued: “Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!”
To read the full text of Pope Francis’s homily see here.