(Via Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has decided to set up a “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” which will be celebrated on September 1st annually.
He made the announcement in a letter to the heads of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
While the words’ “global warming” and “climate change” aren’t specifically mentioned in the text, the purpose seems clear in the context of his recent encyclical when they say “the future of creation”. Something that Dr. James Hansen has touched on in a 2009 presentation “Climate Threat to Creation: Implications for Intergenerational Equity and Justice“. and also in 2007 with “An Opportunity to Lead the Nation in Stewardship of the Earth and Creation“. The language here seems very similar and the mention of the Encylical Letter. Laudato Si, 7-9 removes any doubt.
My view: God helps those who help themselves. If the planet is going to hell in a handbasket as they claim, praying about it won’t do much good.
Below in English is Pope Francis’ letter announcing the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”
To my Venerable Brothers
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah TURKSON, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Cardinal Kurt KOCH, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity
Sharing with my beloved brother the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew his concerns for the future of creation (cfr Encylical Letter. Laudato Si, 7-9) and taking up the suggestion by his representative, the Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum who took part in the presentation of the Encyclical Laudato Si on the care of our common home, I wish to inform you that I have decided to set up also in the Catholic Church, the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” which, beginning this year, will be celebrated on the 1st of September, as the Orthodox Church has done for some time now.
As Christians we wish to offer our contribution towards overcoming the ecological crisis which humanity is living through. Therefore, first of all we must draw from our rich spiritual heritage the reasons which feed our passion for the care of creation, always remembering that for believers in Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became man for us, “the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us.” (ibid., 216). The ecological crisis therefore calls us to a profound spiritual conversion: Christians are called to “an ecological conversion whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them.” (ibid., 217). Thus, “living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”(ibid).
The annual World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvellous works that He has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live. The celebration of the Day on the same date as the Orthodox Church will be a valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our orthodox brothers. We live in a time where all Christians are faced with identical and important challenges and we must give common replies to these in order to appear more credible and effective. Therefore it is my hope that this Day can involve, in some way, other Churches and ecclesial Communities and be celebrated in union with the initiatives that the World Council of Churches is promoting on this issue.
Cardinal Turkson, as President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, I asking you to inform the Justice and Peace Commissions of the Bishops’ Conferences, as well as the national and international Organizations involved in environmental issues about the establishment of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, so that in union with the needs and the local situation , this celebration can be rightly marked with the participation of the entire People of God: priests, men and women religious and the lay faithful. For this reason, it will be the task of this Dicastery, in collaboration with the Episcopal Conferences to set up relevant initiatives to promote and illustrate this Day, so that this annual celebration becomes a powerful moment of prayer, reflection, conversion and the adoption of appropriate life styles.
Cardinal Koch, as President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, I’m asking you to make the necessary contacts with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and with the other ecumenical organisations so that this World Day can become the sign of a path along all believers in Christ walk together. It will also be your Dicastery’s task to take care of the coordination with similar initiatives set up by the World Council of Churches.
Whilst I look forward to the widest possible cooperation for the best start and development of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, I invoke the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and of St. Francis of Assisi, whose Canticle of the Creatures inspires so many men and women of goodwill to live in praise of the Creator and with respect for creation. I support this pledge along with my Apostolic Blessing which I impart with all my heart to you, my dear Cardinals, and to all those who collaborate in your ministry.
From the Vatican, 6th August 2015
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I wonder how much of our tax money they paid the pope to spew their madness. This is just a way for the catholic church to make up for the money they are loosing to their declining numbers and income.
The Pope has effectively jailed Galileo a second time because it was he who began the sunspot count and gave all of us the reason as to why the Earth cools and warms in cycles.
Oh for christ sake. If current leaders spent half as much time on issues that actually exist. I think we have have a presidental runner that is gaining popularity telling us he will combat mostly things that don’t actually exist. It seems to be a good tactic. Our current president ran such a campaign.
Next he will start building a cathedral for Gaia, paid for by Carbon Indulgences. Al Gore will be head of the Carbon Inquisition.
Lord help us all.
Catholics are big on suffering. Looks like God’s plan is to make people like myself have to suffer and be constantly embarrassed by this pope’s craziness. Sigh.
Francis, do us all a huge favor and stick to theology – please! You were put in that chair to help people prepare themselves for a glorious existence not of this earth – not to be an obnoxious mouthpiece for fraudulent junk science. Good grief.
…and deliver us from policy over reach evil.
Meanwhile, behind the curtains we have a free for all with the money…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-13/frankfurt-prosecutors-charge-eight-bankers-in-carbon-tax-fraud
With the combo of one upmanship and severe over reach style, the 99 percent will be harmed in the end.
There is absolutely nothing new here – I don’t do it any more, but I used to study ecclesiology all the way back to the Avignon Popes and a bit before. The Pope may have drunk some kool-aid on warming, but he certainly hasn’t on pollution or on habitat destruction, etc etc, and this goes right to a very traditional view of humanity as shepherds for creation with a duty to treat it well.
If you MUST politicize it, think of it as a license for shiny new nuke plants. 🙂
The Pope is confusing the natural environment with the Garden of Eden.
God kicked us out of the Garden of Eden and left us to contend with Mother Nature. Hardly a friendly act. Mother Nature is no friend of humans. Without technology modern humans can survive only a few days in the wild.
We were told by God to go forth and multiply. If the Pope could really speak with god, he would hear him saying “good job, well done, now use that intelligence I blessed you with for some birth control”
“Use your skills wisely,” the Almighty would say. “It has long been known that the best way to limit population is to improve the living standards of the poor.”
He might also point out that His earth, properly tended, could support many more people than it does at the present time. The “need” for birth control does not exist. The need for proper care of the planet does.
(And that does not mean following every greenie fad that comes along. It does mean taking action against those who commit genocide and those who selfishly restrict others’ access to the necessities of life — are you listening, EU and USA?!)
I suppose it only makes sense the pope would promulgate global warming. After all, it relies on faith, castigates heretics, and strives for powerful, behavioral control, as does Catholicism.
Richard,
Why confine your comment to Catholicism? You have described all religions.
There is a quid pro quo here but none of the participants have the courage to say what the deal is.
…or honesty.
We’ve been down this road before. Elements of Paganism were incorporated into Christianity, particularly with holy days (especially Christmas and Easter), as a means of both “bringing them into the fold”, and destroying a rival religion. Gaiaism is rooted in paganistic ideas, although in a twisted way, since man is viewed as antagonistic towards “mother earth”.
How this will play out is anyone’s guess, but suffice it to say, this appears to be an extremely unholy alliance.
I’m not sorry to say this as a Catholic. I do not like this Pope. He has been very divisive for the Church. And Jesus Christ must be puking in heaven. I have no respect for this Pope. He should be forced to watch the following video:
The Pope? I mean, really, THE POPE??? This is 2015. We always thought that AGW was just superstition. Now we know for sure.
Ok, where to begin with this? Needless to say mosquitoes, hornets, wasps, poison ivy, and bed bugs are part of creation. Am I to take care of them? You bet! I spray ’em, squash ’em, poison ’em, every opportunity I get. So, when our dearest Francis proclaims an ecological crisis (which hasn’t killed anybody that I’m aware of), and bloviates about taking care of creation is it all inclusive or is he making exceptions?
Ah, but he is. He’s just not saying. But, rest assured it isn’t any of the above because those aspects of creation make us miserable. Only the aspects of creation that we truly enjoy would these killjoys not want us to take care off. You know that, and I know that, and Francis knows that. Heck, it was an aspect of nature, of creation, that I made certain to take care of every single day when I was a teenager. Sometimes a few times a day. Jeez, I actually had to become ambidextrous to take care of it.
And that is the only aspect of creation these bizarre simpletons object to. The misery part – that they love.
For others, of course.
Is this the payment plan for getting six F-16s stationed in Turkey to protect Christians in the Middle East? I do think the WH demanded something in return for favors to the Vatican and that something is getting in line with the AGW scare schedule of almost daily events and media plants. It’s the old pay to play game.
Looking like Khrushchev was right (though perhaps not quite what he had in mind): “We will bury you!”
Looking like Khrushchev was right (though perhaps not quite in the manner he had in mind): “We will bury you!”
Yes, it’s a shoe-in.
Well, the Church is no better in science (Galileo) than in morals (Savanarola). I don’t listen to those idiots any more.
September 1st – hereinafter to be known as “September Fools’ Day”.
Hey look! It’s AlGore in his brand new, gas-guzzling Goremobile!
September Fools!
You are all welcome at the nondenominational bible churches. It is unfiltered words and inspiration.
There is no “ecological crisis which humanity is living through”. However, there is an economic crisis.
So which eco activist group will be elevated to become the green Jesuit enforcers?
I suggest that we declare “victory” on Sept 2nd and get the Pope onto other priorities.