Respecting the God-given dignity of the human person and the integrity of God’s creation “are inseparable,” Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said in his message for the September 1 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Source: OSV News.
The patriarch echoed Pope Francis’ insistence that religious groups have an important role to play in fighting climate change because true progress will require conversion.
“Genuine religious faith dissolves the arrogance and titanism of humankind” by helping people realise they are not God, the patriarch said.
A person has no right to abolish “all standards, boundaries and values, while declaring himself ‘the measure of all things’ and instrumentalising both his fellow human beings and nature for the satisfaction of his unquenchable needs and arbitrary pursuits”.
“Respect for the sacredness of the human person and the protection of the integrity of the ‘very good’ creation are inseparable,” the patriarch said in his message, which was posted in Greek and English on August 28 on the Greek Orthodox website Fos Fanariou.
The annual day of prayer was instituted by Patriarch Bartholomew’s predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, in 1989.
Pope Francis, recognising the importance of the patriarch’s initiative, added the day to the Catholic Church’s annual observances in 2015.
Pope Francis’ message for the 2024 day of prayer, released by the Vatican in June, also spoke of the conversion necessary to leave behind “the arrogance of those who want to exercise dominion over others and nature itself, reducing the latter to an object to be manipulated,” and to instead embrace “the humility of those who care for others and for all of creation.”
Patriarch Bartholomew’s statement, like that of Pope Francis, also emphasised the connection between care for creation and love for one another, especially the poor.
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Faith in God must lead to care for creation, love of the poor, patriarch says (By Cindy Wooden, CNS via OSV News)
