The embassies of Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela organized a workshop for the Holy See at the San Calixto Palace in Rome, which opened on Thursday with a message from Pope Francis.
vatican city
Rome, Friday, November 29, 2024 (REI, Vatican Radio): The embassies of Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela organized a workshop for the Holy See at the San Calixto Palace in Rome, which opened on Thursday with a message from Pope Francis . In his message the Pope invited us to enter into a relationship with “all that is in creation” for the benefit of the southern hemisphere.
connect with creation
In the message, the Pope warned that the signs of climate change “cannot be hidden,” since extreme weather events affect people in poor countries the most. The workshop, titled “Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum, solving the problems of the environmental crisis in light of the experiences of Latin America,” began this Thursday. The Pope invited the attending delegates to strive to “strengthen the ties” between peoples and “build relationships with all creation.”
Participating were Cardinal Robert Francis Prévost, President of the Commission for Latin America, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Venerable Vincenzo Palía, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery. Pontifical for Communications in the workshop that began on November 28.
Reciprocity between humans and nature
Cardinal Prévost, greeting the participants, stressed the urgency of taking “action” in the face of the worsening environmental crisis. He said this is a great challenge that requires a response based on the Catechism of the Church, which emphasizes that the “dominion over nature” entrusted to man by God must not be “absolute.”
He said that man is only an “administrator who must account for his work in a relationship of “reciprocity” with the environment.” “Therefore, he stated, our mission is to treat creation as the Creator intended. He strongly condemned “tyrannical actions that benefit a few.”
“Co-creators” of God’s gifts
“Our nature is created by God and we are surrounded by the gifts of creation,” Cardinal Turkson said, quoting Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. “Failure” lies in “creating too much,” not in “giving gifts.” Therefore, it is urgent to change direction “in the sense of human progress, in the management of the economy and in our lifestyle.”
“The world is not an accident,” said Cardinal Turkson, but “a deliberate act of God,” and creation is not just “a step from nothing to many things,” but “the first step of the human vocation.” . That’s why everyone has been invited to be “co-producers,” he said. He gave the example of a metaphor: “God plants the tree from which man makes furniture.”
The main objective of the work camp was to focus the world’s attention on the harmful effects of climate change and the problems that arise from it for poor countries.
