Leonardo"s Notebook by Mattheus Mei

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Pope Speaks out

*If you're looking for the ongoing interaction between Christianity and Islam and the Pope's response to the open ended letter click here.*

Found an interesting article on Zenit, that includes text from a letter on behalf of the Pontiff to a French Organization (92nd Social Weeks of France). See it here in Italian.

From the Zenit Article:

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."The text voiced fears of men and women of today, such as “exhausting the resources of the planet, the rapid thawing of the glaciers, the increase of the greenhouse effect, the increase of natural disasters, excessive emission of carbon dioxide.” “These are some of the warning signs that call for a moral awakening in favor of the earth,” the Pope asserted. “Once again, poorer countries will have to suffer the most serious consequences provoked by the attitude of the industrialized world and the trust -- sometimes excessive -- in scientific and technical progress." (Emphasis added)

But there's more!

“The richest nations are called not to abuse improperly the resources of the developing countries without returning to them the revenue derived from the resources of their land and underground," he affirmed. "It is a matter of the elemental principles of justice and equity and the universal destination of the goods of the earth. Besides, it is a work system about which it is necessary to reflect.”(Emphasis Added)

So the Holy See not only recognizes the validity of the claims and concerns about the state of our planet while pushing responsible development because as both man and planet as creations of God deserve dignity and respect, he's also a fair trader! Awesome, I'm loving this Pontificate!!!

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2 comments:

Fr. Gaurav Shroff said...

Yeah, it sounds like Papa Ratzi is going green ... :) Luckily, he's not infallible when it comes to pronouncements about the environment.

Hehe ... seriously though, concern for creation, for stewardship of the earth doesn't automatically translate to Al Gore style alarmism, especially when it seems to be distorting the data.

What do you mean by "fair trade?" As opposed to what, unfair trade?

Mattheus Mei said...

unfair trade would be hyper capitalism that disregards the human condition in preference for the business condition. The perfect example being the sweat shop with child labor, or the company that intentionally exposes their employees harmful conditions because it was cheaper, etc.