MAN MUST USE, NOT ABUSE, THE EARTH

VATICAN CITY, NOV 11, 2000 (VIS) - At 5:30 this afternoon Pope John Paul II joined thousands of people involved in the world of agriculture during their Jubilee celebrations in the Paul VI Hall on the theme "Jubilee of the Land: To Cultivate and Protect." He said he wished to reflect with them "on the current state of this important sector of life and the economy and on the ethical and social perspectives which regard it."

He noted that "the Church has always had a special view of this sphere of work, which has even been expressed in important magisterial documents." He recalled in particular Blessed Pope John XXIII's "Mater et Magistra" and pointed out that, since that time, not only do there remain problems in the agricultural sector to solve, but new ones have been added.

"The Church obviously does not have technical solutions to propose," said the Holy Father, but rather "proposes those spiritual values which give meaning to life." The first of these is that "the land is God's: And therefore, it must be treated according to His law. If, with respect to natural resources, an irresponsible 'culture of domination' ... has been affirmed, with devastating ecological consequences. this certainly does not respond to the will of God." Man "must use, not abuse, the earth" as he is the "collaborator of the Creator, a stupendous mission but also marked by precise limits."

The Pope went on to say that, when it is a question of promoting agricultural production by applying biotechnologies, these "must first undergo rigorous scientific and ethical checks."

John Paul II then highlighted another "principle dear to the Church's social doctrine, that is, the universal destination of the goods of the earth." He said he was not denying legitimate ownership, but rather saying that "God's earth is the earth of each man, of all men!"

"Every man, every people, has a right to live by the fruits of the earth. It is an intolerable scandal that, at the start of the third millennium, so many people are reduced to hunger and live in conditions unworthy of man. We can no longer limit ourselves to academic discussions. We must remove this shame of mankind with appropriate political and economic choices on a worldwide scale."

It is up to man to remedy these situations, and to remove the causes, said the Pope. "It is man who can build or destroy, who can show respect or contempt, who can share or refuse to share."

He concluded by stating that everyone, Christians in particular, must resist the tendency to "irrational consumerism, a type of 'culture of waste', which has become a widespread lifestyle" and must promote "a culture of solidarity."

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