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Pope Francis and Green & Blue Festival organisers hold a banner calling for financing a ‘loss and damage’ fund that was agreed upon at the COP27 UN climate conference in 2022 (OSV News/Vatican Media)

A faster change of course away from today’s throwaway culture and toward greater care for the common good is necessary to ensure the planet’s liveability for future generations, Pope Francis said yesterday on World Environment Day. Source: CNS.

The Pope called on people “to move away from the throwaway culture toward ways of living marked by a culture of respect and care; care of creation and care of our neighbours, whether they be near or far from us either geographically or through time”.

Meeting at the Vatican yesterday with the organisers of a festival supporting sustainability and bringing together activists, researchers, artists and scientific experts in Rome and Milan, Pope Francis noted how science increasingly demonstrates that actions taken today will have an effect on the environment for thousands of years.

“This has also increased our sense of responsibility to God, who has entrusted us with the care of creation, to our neighbours and to future generations,” he told the group of organisers of the “Green & Blue Festival: Earth For All.”

World Environment Day was established in 1972 and is celebrated every June 5 to promote awareness about protecting the environment.

Combating climate change, Pope Francis said, requires recognising one’s responsibility to those “who have contributed least to its occurrence” – the world’s poorest and most vulnerable – and developing a sense of “responsible cooperation” among everyone.

“Our world is now thoroughly interdependent and cannot allow itself to be divided into blocs of countries that promote their own interests in an isolated or unsustainable way,” the Pope said. “The real enemy is an irresponsible behaviour that has profound consequences for every aspect of the lives of the men and women of today and tomorrow.”

FULL STORY

Pope: Quick change of course necessary to beat climate change (By Justin McLellan, CNS via NCR Online)