Don't throw plastic in the sea!
Pope Francis recalls the annual Sea
Sunday occurrence inviting everyone to take good care of our seas and oceans.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis reminded the faithful
on Sunday, 11 July, that today is Sea Sunday: “dedicated in a special way to
all those who rely on the sea for their work and livelihood."
Celebrated annually, Sea Sunday, is
a day for people to come together to pray for seafarers and fishers and thank
them for the vital role they play in all of our lives.
As Pope Francis points out, it is
also a day in which to highlight the importance of caring for the sea and its
ecosystem.
Speaking after the Angelus prayer, the Pope said he is praying for seafarers and he exhorted everyone to take care of the oceans and of the seas. “Take care of the health of the sea: no plastic in the sea!” he said.
8 million tons plastic enter the
ocean every year
UN figures show 8 million tons of
plastic enter the ocean annually, killing marine life and feeding into the
human food chain.
Pope Francis makes many references
to the need to care for oceans and seas in his encyclical “Laudato sì, On Care
for Our Common Home”. In paragraphs 40-41, he writes: "Oceans not
only contain the bulk of our planet’s water supply, but also most of the
immense variety of living creatures, many of them still unknown to us and
threatened for various reasons...Particularly threatened are marine organisms
which we tend to overlook, like some forms of plankton; they represent a
significant element in the ocean food chain, and species used for our food
ultimately depend on them...In tropical and subtropical seas, we find coral
reefs comparable to the great forests on dry land, for they shelter
approximately a million species, including fish, crabs, molluscs, sponges and
algae. Many of the world’s coral reefs are already barren or in a state of
constant decline. 'Who turned the wonderworld of the seas into underwater
cemeteries bereft of colour and life.'"
In a letter to business leaders at a
2018 Vatican conference on the fourth World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation, he said “We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless
fields of floating plastic.”
“We need to pray as if everything
depended on God’s providence, and work as if everything depended on us,” he
said.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento