Vatican
City, 5 June 2013
(VIS) – Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis of today's Wednesday
morning general audience to the environment, noting that today marks
the World Environment Day promoted by the United Nations.
“When
we speak of the environment, of creation, my thoughts go to the first
pages of the Bible, to the Book of Genesis, where it is affirms that
God puts man and woman on earth 'to cultivate and care for it'. And
the question comes to me:” the Pope said to the faithful gathered
in St. Peter's Square, “What does it mean to cultivate and care for
the earth? Are we truly cultivating and caring for creation? Or are
we exploiting and neglecting it?”
“Cultivating
and caring for creation,” explained the Holy Father, “is God's
indication, given not only at the beginning of history, but to each
one of us. It is part of his plan. It means responsibly making the
world grow, transforming it so that it becomes a garden, a place that
all can inhabit.”
“Benedict
XVI recalled many times that this tasked entrusted to us by God the
Creator requires that we understand the rhythm and logic of creation.
Instead, we are often guided by the arrogance of dominating,
possessing, manipulating, and exploiting. We don't 'take care' of it;
we don't respect it; we don't consider it as a freely-given gift to
be cared for. We are losing the attitude of wonder, of contemplation,
of listening to creation. Thus we are no longer able to read in it
what Benedict XVI called 'the rhythm of the story of God's love for
humanity'. Why is this happening? Because are we thinking and living
'horizontally'; we are drawing away from God; we are not reading his
signs.”
“But
cultivating and caring for doesn't just refer to our relationship
with the environment, the relationship between humanity and creation.
It also concern human relationships. … We are living a moment of
crisis. We see it in the environment but above all we see it in
humanity. The human person is in danger. ... This is the urgency of
human ecology! The danger is serious because the root of the problem
is profound, not superficial. It isn't just a question of economics
but of ethics and anthropology. … The dynamics of an economy and
finance that lack ethics are dominating.”
Speaking
off the cuff, the pontiff added: “What is in charge today isn't the
human person but money. Money is in command. And God our Father has
given us the task of caring for the earth not for the money, but for
us: for men and women. This is our charge. Instead, men and women are
sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption. It is a 'culture
of waste'.“
“If,
for example, on a winter's night,” he continued, “a person dies
here in [nearby] Via Ottaviano, that's not news. If in so many parts
of the world there are children who have nothing to eat, that's not
news. It seems normal. It must not be this way! And yet these things
come to be normal … On the other hand, a drop of ten points on the
stock exchange constitutes a tragedy. If someone dies that isn't news
but a ten point drop in the markets is a tragedy! Thus people are
discarded, as if they were garbage.”
“Human
life, the person, is no longer felt to be the primary value to
respect and care for … This culture of waste has also made us
insensitive to a squandering and wastefulness of food … Consumerism
has caused us to get used to the daily excess and waste of food,
which we are no longer capable of seeing for its true worth, which
goes well beyond mere economic parameters. Remember, however, that
the food that is thrown away is as if we had stolen it from the table
of the poor, from those who are hungry!”
“I
invite you all to reflect on the problem of the loss and the waste of
food … Let us all make the serious commitment to respect and care
for creation, to be attentive to every person, to oppose the culture
of wastefulness and waste, and to promote a culture of solidarity and
encounter.”
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