Sister Earth

World Peace Day 2008: Peace and the Environment

Here is an excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI's message for the 41st World Day of Peace:

The family, the human community and the environment

The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.

Christmas: A Feast of Restored Creation

Gregory of Nyssa, in his Christmas homilies, developed the same vision setting out from the Christmas message in the Gospel of John: "He pitched his tent among us" (Jn 1:14). Gregory applies this passage about the tent to the tent of our body, which has become worn out and weak, exposed everywhere to pain and suffering. And he applies it to the whole universe, torn and disfigured by sin. What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation? Anselm of Canterbury, in an almost prophetic way, once described a vision of what we witness today in a polluted world whose future is at risk: "Everything was as if dead, and had lost its dignity, having been made for the service of those who praise God. The elements of the world were oppressed, they had lost their splendour because of the abuse of those who enslaved them for their idols, for whom they had not been created" (PL 158, 955f.). Thus, according to Gregory's vision, the stable in the Christmas message represents the ill-treated world. What Christ rebuilds is no ordinary palace. He came to restore beauty and dignity to creation, to the universe: this is what began at Christmas and makes the angels rejoice. The Earth is restored to good order by virtue of the fact that it is opened up to God, it obtains its true light anew, and in the harmony between human will and divine will, in the unification of height and depth, it regains its beauty and dignity. Thus Christmas is a feast of restored creation. It is in this context that the Fathers interpret the song of the angels on that holy night: it is an expression of joy over the fact that the height and the depth, Heaven and Earth, are once more united; that man is again united to God.

—Pope Benedict XVI, Midnight Mass Homily 2007

Pope Calls Christians to Protect Planet

Pope Calls Christians to Protect Planet
Says Rich Nations Shouldn't Abuse Resources of Poor Countries

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says a "moral awakening" in favor of the environment is needed, and rich countries should not abuse the resources of developing nations.

This exhortation forms part of the message sent in the Pope's name by Archbishop Fernando Filoni, "sostituto" of the Vatican Secretariat of State, to the 92nd Social Weeks of France, celebrated in and around Paris from Nov. 16 to 18.

The pontifical message affirmed, “It is necessary to rejoice at the fact that our contemporaries recognize more and more the need for a lasting development in order to leave to future generations a truly inhabitable planet, in the perspective offered by the Creator."

St. Martin of Tours

November 11th is the day when many countries, particularly in the British Commonwealth, officially remember their war dead. In Canada we call it Remembrance Day, but in some countries it is still known by its original name, Armistice Day. The Armistice treaty ending World War I was signed on November 11, 1918, but this was not a date chosen at random or determined by circumstance.

Europeans had for centuries celebrated the feast of St. Martin of Tours on this day, the anniversary of his burial in the year 397. He is considered to be the Patron Saint of soldiers, despite the fact that he renounced the military when he became a Christian. He was born a pagan but developed an interest in Christianity as a youth. His father forced him into the Roman army, but after receiving a vision of Christ he immediately had himself baptized and left the army (which involved a short period of imprisonment). Because he was a former soldier he could not be ordained even as a deacon, but that did not stop him from preaching and eventually being chosen by the people of Tours to be their bishop.

It is a shame that St. Martin has been forgotten in our remembrances of war, though it is not surprising because he brings up an uncomfortable truth: for early Christians, and for anyone who takes seriously Christ's exhortation to love our enemies, Christianity and military service are incompatible. It is certainly fitting, though, that his feast day be the day we commemorate the end of the horror we know as World War I.

St. Martin Renounces the Sword. Simone Martini, 1317, Lower Church of San Francesco Assisi. See the complete set of frescoes here.

The Line Dividing Good and Evil

If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

—Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Pope Applauds Montreal Protocol on 20th Anniversary

Benedict XVI Pleads for Protection of Creation
Asks That Cooperation Intensify

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI again reiterated his plea that an alliance be re-created between humanity and the environment, urging that cooperation intensity in the promotion of the common good.

The Pope made his appeal today, noting the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, adopted in that Canadian city on Sept. 16, 1987.

Addressing the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo for the praying of the Angelus, the Holy Father spoke about the anniversary of the document on "the substances that deplete the ozone layer, causing grave damage for human beings and the ecosystem."

Cardinal McCarrick: “This is a holy place because this is God's work”

Cardinal McCarrick Urges Rescuing Planet

NARSARSUAQ, Greenland, SEPT. 12, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The beauty of God's creation is being destroyed, and people of all faiths need to work together to stop the destruction, says Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., spoke Tuesday with Vatican Radio about the need to protect the environment. His comments came as he participated in the seventh symposium organized by the nongovernmental organization Religion, Science and the Environment, which ended today.

The symposium was held under the patronage of Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I and gathered religious and social leaders in Greenland.