for ecological conversion
In a message for the upcoming
Season of Creation, Albanian Archbishop Angelo Massafra of Shkodër-Pult, a
member of the Pastoral Social Care Commission of the Council of Bishops'
Conferences of Europe (CCEE), echoes Pope Francis’ call for an ecological
conversion, recalling that the current climate crisis is mainly attributable to
the actions of man.
“Listening to the Voice of
Creation”
The Season of Creation is
celebrated annually by Christian Churches around the globe as a time of prayer
and action for the safeguarding or our common home through responsible
stewardship. It is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue,
offers to humanity to renew its relationship with the Creator and with
Creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment to action.
The proposed theme this year
is “Listening to the Voice of Creation” and the urgency of doing so is
symbolised by the ‘Burning Bush’ (Ex. 3, 1-12), referring to the prevalence of
unnatural fires as a sign of the devastating effects that climate change has on
the most vulnerable of our planet.
Fires in Europe
“In particular, our European
continent has been faced with a real environmental catastrophe that, in 97% of
cases, is attributable to the actions of man,” says Archbishop Angelo Massafra
OFM of Shkodër-Pult, a Member Pastoral Social Care Commission of the Council of
Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE).
“According to a recent
estimate, in the 27 countries of the European Union fires have already
devastated a total of 517,881 hectares since the beginning of the year,
compared to 470,359 the previous year,” the President of the Albanian Bishops’
Conference writes in a message for the annual observance.
“It is worrying that scholars
are already hypothesising the transition from our era (Anthropocene) to the
next one, to which they have already given the name “pyrocene”, the effects of
which are already visible considering that CO2 emissions have reached levels
that the planet has not known for well over 3 million years.”
The "incalculable"
damage of wars on the environment
In his message, the prelate
also draws attention on the”incalculable”, damage to the environment caused by
by wars, neamely the conflict in in Ukraine as well in other areas of the
planet. He recalls, in particular the war in Vietnam in the Sixties when US
forces sprayed massively defoliants and herbicides, including Napalm, over
rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong guerrilla
of food and vegetation, causing what has been termed as an “ecocide”.
He also cites the heavy air
pollution caused by the burning of oil installations in Kuwait during the First
Gulf War aganst Iraq (1990-1991), and, more recently, the wars in Yemen and
Syria with the contamination of soil and waterways.
Referring to the ongoing war
in Ukraine, Archbishop Massafra notes that experts currently estimate that the
long-term effects of this conflict may cause cancer, respiratory diseases and
developmental delay in children.
Pope Francis' message for the
Season of Creation
In this context, the Albanian
prelate remarks that “if the hand of man is the main cause” of the current
global ecological crisis, “the same hand” can find a solution to it, as
repeatedly called for by Pope Francis, and reiterated on 21 July in his Message
for this year’s Season of Creation.
In that message, the Pope
asked the UN members for the “effective implementation” of the 2015 Paris
Agreement on climate change. The Pope's message, says Archbishop Massafra, was
”not a pious exhortation”, but “a real challenge launched to the powerful of
the Earth and to the leaders of the individual nations (be they rich or poor),
each for their own part.”
Call for ecological conversion
But it is also a call for an
ecological conversion addressed to all individuals and communities and in
particular to Christians.
Archbishop Massafra’s message
therefore concludes with the hope that World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation on 1 September can be “a time of prayer, but also a time of serious
conversion of individual attitudes and habits.”
“We, European Bishops, join
the appeal launched by Pope Francis, inviting all Christians to be spokesmen
for these demands of the Planet, whose voice reveals ‘a kind of dissonance. On
the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the
other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home’.”
Vatican News
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