VATICAN, July 31, 2009 (CISA) -Pope Benedict XVI has devoted next year’s World Day of Peace, celebrated on January 1, to protection of the environment.
The theme of the pope’s message will be, ‘If you want to cultivate peace, protect the creation’, the Vatican announced.
”The theme”, according to a communiqué issued Thursday, “aims to raise awareness about the strong bond that exists in our globalised and interconnected world between protecting the creation and cultivating peace.
”This close and intimate tie is further accentuated by the many problems concerning man’s natural environment, such as the use of resources, climate change, the application and use of biotechnology, and demographic growth. If the human family is unable to face these new challenges with a renewed sense of social justice and equity, and of international solidarity, we run the risk of sowing seeds of violence among peoples, and between current generations and those to come”.
The papal massage will make it clear that the protection of the environment is a challenge for all humankind. “Ecological questions must be faced, not just because of the dreadful prospects that environmental degradation presages; they must be translated, above all, into a strong motivation to cultivate peace”, the communiqué says.
Filed under: Church, Environment
