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Pope Francis is urging the faithful to join him in September to pray for the millions of people who suffer from floods, heat waves, droughts, and the "cry of the Earth."
"Let us pray for the cry of the Earth," the Pope urges those entrusted by God to be stewards of creation. "If we took the planet’s temperature, it would tell us that the Earth has a fever."
"But are we listening to this pain? Do we hear the pain of the millions of victims of environmental catastrophes?" the Pope asks, recalling that it is always the poor who suffer the most from these tragedies.
"We must commit ourselves to the fight against poverty and the protection of nature, changing our personal and community habits," he said.
The Holy Father's September intention comes in the midst of the Season of Creation – that annual period of time in which the Church traditionally mobilizes itself to reflect on the care of our common home – it is a powerful call to “deal with the environmental crisis caused by humans.”
In his video message, produced by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, with the help of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Pope Francis asks if we “are listening” to the pain of the Earth."
The images accompanying Pope Francis’ words demonstrate the effects of the climate crisis on human beings: people fleeing environmental catastrophes, emigrants on the rise due to the effects of the climate, children forced to travel dozens of kilometers in search of a little water.
According to the World Economic Forum, the lowest income countries produce one-tenth of emissions, yet they are the most heavily affected by climate change.
For Pope Francis, “the fight against poverty” and “the protection of nature” are two parallel paths that must be trod in the same way by “changing our personal and community habits.”
Humanity’s destiny and the destiny of creation cannot be separated, as Pope Francis has reiterated during his pontificate, first in his encyclical Laudato si' (2015) and later with his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (2023).
These reflections are also in line with the Pope’s message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2024, whose theme is “Hope and Act with Creation,” inspired by the Letter to the Romans.
“The protection of creation, then, is not only an ethical issue, but one that is eminently theological, for it is the point where the mystery of man and the mystery of God intersect,” the Pope reflects in his message. And he adds, “At stake is not only our earthly life in history, but also, and above all, our future in eternity.”
The Season of Creation – an initiative of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which promotes the celebration of life and the protection of God’s creation – begins on 1 September 1 and ends October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
