Vatican City, 3 July 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday afternoon Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin spoke
at the high-level conference “People and planet first: the
imperative to change course” (Rome, Augustinianum, 2-3 July),
organised by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” and
CIDSE, an international network of Catholic non-governmental
development organisations.
The theme of the Cardinal's address was
“The Importance of the Encyclical Laudato Si' for the Church and
the World, in the Light of Major Political Events in 2015 and
Beyond”. Three key United Nations conferences are scheduled to take
place in the second half of 2015: the “Third International
Conference on Financing for Development”, (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
13 to 16 July); the “United Nations Summit to adopt the Post-2015
Development Agenda”, (New York, U.S.A., 25 to 27 September); and
the “Twenty-First Session of the Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change” or “COP21”
(Paris, France, 30 November to 11 December), for the purpose of
adopting a new agreement on climate change. Cardinal Parolin affirmed
that “the Encyclical will have a certain impact on these events,
but its breadth and depth go well beyond its context in time”.
The Secretary of State's discourse
focused on three sectors to help understand of “Laudato si'” –
the international sphere, the national and local sphere, and the
sphere of the Church – emphasising the two pressing requirements
relevant to all three, namely “redirecting our steps” and
promoting a “culture of care”.
In the international framework, he
said, there is a need for “an ever greater recognition that
'everything is connected' and that the environment, the earth and the
climate are 'a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit
everyone'. They are a common and collective good, belonging to all
and meant for all, the patrimony of all humanity and the
responsibility of everyone'. Recognising these truths is not,
however, a foregone conclusion. It calls for a firm commitment to
develop an authentic ethics of international relations, one that is
genuinely capable of facing up to a variety of issues, such as
commercial imbalances, and foreign and ecological debt, which are
denounced in the Encyclical”.
“Unfortunately, what has prevented
the international community from assuming this perspective can be
summed up in the following observations of the Pope: its 'failure of
conscience and responsibility' and the consequent 'meagre awareness
of its own limitations'. We live, however, in a context where it is
possible to 'leave behind the modern myth of unlimited material
progress... [and] to devise intelligent ways of directing, developing
and limiting our power'; 'we have the freedom needed to limit and
direct technology; we can put it at the service of another type of
progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more
integral'”. The Cardinal remarked, “more than once I have had
occasion to emphasise how the technological and operative base for
promoting such progress is already available or within our reach. We
must seize this great opportunity, given the real human capacity to
initiate and forge ahead on a genuinely and properly virtuous course,
one that irrigates the soil of economic and technological innovation,
cultivating three interrelated objectives: to help human dignity
flourish; to help eradicate poverty; and to help counter
environmental decay”.
“The forces at work in the
international sphere are not sufficient on their own, however, but
must also be focused by a clear national stimulus, according to the
principle of subsidiarity. And here we enter into the second area of
our reflection, that of national and local action. Laudato Si' shows
us that we can do much in this regard, and it offers some examples,
such as: 'modifying consumption, developing an economy of waste
disposal and recycling... [the improvement of] agriculture in poorer
regions... through investment in rural infrastructures, a better
organisation of local [and] national markets, systems of irrigation,
and the development of techniques of sustainable agriculture', the
promotion of a 'circular model of production', a clear response to
the wasting of food, and the acceleration of an 'energy transition'”.
He added, “unfortunately, 'there are too many special interests,
and economic interests too easily end up trumping the common good and
manipulating information so that their own plans will not be
affected'”.
The final area considered by the
Secretary of State was the Catholic Church, who “finds nourishment
in the example of St. Francis who, as indicated from the very opening
pages of the Encyclical, 'lived in simplicity and in wonderful
harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows
us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature,
justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace”.
He concluded, “Pope Francis states
once again that 'the Church does not presume to settle scientific
questions or to replace politics', but seems to be the bearer of the
need to question the meaning and purpose of all human activity. What
is well-known by now is the Encyclical's call for us to reflect on
'what kind of world we want to leave to those who come after us, to
children who are now growing up'. The answer which the Pope offers to
this question is quite revealing: 'When we ask ourselves what kind of
world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its
general direction, its meaning and its values. … It is no longer
enough, then, simply to state that we should be concerned for future
generations. We need to see that what is at stake is our own
dignity”.