Saint John Paul II Quotes p. 7

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Saint John Paul II: Quotes on Ecology and the Environment, page 7

Remember Saint Francis Everyone remembers the stories of Saint Francis joyfully speaking with the animals, urging them to respect others and to praise the Creator. This example is particularly urgent for our times when, without the slightest concern, man is slowly destroying the environment that the Creator had prepared for him. + Post-Angelus: National Day of Ecology and Zoology, March 28, 1982 Treat Plants, Animals, and Minerals as Brothers and Sisters When man habitually loves and respects lower creatures, he will also learn to be more human with his equals. I am therefore happy to encourage and bless those who work to assure that, in the Franciscan spirit, animals, plants, and minerals be considered and treated as “brothers and sisters”. + Post-Angelus Greeting to Participants in Tera Mater Seminar, October 3, 1982 Witness of Saint Francis The witness of Francis leads those of today not to plunder nature, but to assume responsibility for it, taking care that it all remains healthy and unharmed,... to offer future generations an environment that welcomes their presence and in which they can be at ease. + Post-Angelus: National Day of Ecology and Zoology, March 28, 1982 Evolution and the Soul If the human body has its origin in living material which preexists it, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God. + Message to Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996 Secularized Modern Age The environment has often fallen prey to the interests of a few strong industrial groups, to the detriment of humanity as a whole, with the ensuing damage to the balance of the ecosystem, the health of the inhabitants and of future generations to come... In the secularized modern age, we are seeing the emergence of a twofold temptation: knowledge no longer understood as wisdom and contemplation but as power over nature... The other temptation is the unbridled exploitation of resources under the urge of unlimited profit-seeking, according to the capitalistic mentality typical of modern societies... In your endeavor to preserve the healthiness of the environment, may the Lord enlighten and assist you. I commend your efforts to his bounty as our Father, rich in love for each one of his creatures, and I bless you all in his name. + Address to UN Conference on Health and Environment, March 24, 1997 Social Function of Private Property This principle does not delegitimize private property; instead it broadens the understanding and management of private property to embrace its indispensable social function, to the advantage of the common good and in particular the good of society’s weakest members... + Vatican, December 8, 1999 Reasons for Hope The truth is that when people cut themselves of from God’s plan for creation, they block out concern for their brothers and sisters, and respect for nature. However, there are reasons for hope. Many persons, aware of this problem, for some time have been studying ways to find a remedy. They are first of all concerned to recover the spiritual dimension of the relationship with creation, by rediscovering the mandate God originally entrusted to humanity (cf. Gen. 2:15). + Message for the 23rd World Day of Tourism, June 24, 2002 God’s Co-workers Created in the image of God, humanity has the right to make use of other created realities but not to lord over nature, still less to ruin it. People are called to become God’s coworkers in caring for creation. + Angelus, March 24, 1996 Humility Only this humility before the grandeur and mystery of creation can save man from the ill-fated consequences of his own arrogance. + Message to a Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples at Rimini, Italy, August 24, 2004 The Divine Image This is a task that humanity must carry out in respect for the divine image received, and, therefore with intelligence and with love, assuming responsibility for the gifts that God has bestowed and continues to bestow. + Christifideles Laici, December 30, 1988 Animals Also Have a Vital Breath ...we know that man was created “in the image and likeness of God”. Other texts, however, admit that the animals also have a vital breath or wind and that they received it from God. Under this aspect man, coming forth from the hands of God, appears in solidarity with all living beings. Thus Psalm 104 makes no distinction between men and animals when it says, addressing God the Creator: “These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give to them, the gather it up”. The Psalmist then adds: “When you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth”. + General Audience, “The Creative Action of the Divine Spirit”, January 7, 1990 Our Brother’s Keeper There is a growing threat to the environment of humanity, to vegetation, animals, water, and air. Sacred Scripture hands on the image of Cain who rejected his responsibility: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Bible shows the human person is his brother’s keeper and the guardian of creation that has been entrusted to him. + Address, Representatives of Science, Art, and Journalism, Salzburg, Austria, June 26, 1988 Good Shepherd of the Environment Man is called to be the good shepherd of the environment... This is the task he was given long ago and which the human family has assumed not without success through its history; until recently when man himself has become the destroyer of his natural environment. + World Day of Youth Mass Homily, Cherry Creek Campground, Denver, August 14, 1993 Human Labor Awareness that man’s work is a participation in God’s activity ought to permeate...even the most ordinary everyday activities. For, while providing the substance of life for themselves and their families, men and women are performing their activities in a way which appropriately benefits society. They can justly consider that by their labor the are unfolding the Creator’s work, consulting the advantages of their brothers and sisters, and contributing by their personal industry to the realization in history of the divine plan. + Encyclical, Labore Exercen (On Human Labor), September 14, 1981 Artistic Creativity The opening page of the Bible presents God as a kind of exemplar of everyone who produces work: the human craftsman mirrors the image of God as Creator. This relationship is particularly clear in the Polish language because of the lexical link between the words stworca (creator) and tworca (craftsman)... God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman’s task. Through his “artistic creativity,” man appears more than ever “in the image of God,” and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power. + Letter to Artists, April 4, 1999 The Mosaic of Charity Selfishness makes people deaf and dumb; love opens eyes and ears, enabling people to make that original and irreplaceable contribution which - together with the thousands of deeds of so many brothers and sisters, often distant and unknown - converges to form the mosaic of charity that can change the tide of history. + 11th World Day of Youth, November 25, 1995 A Challenge to Landowners The land is a gift of God for the benefit of all... It is not permissible to use this gift in such a manner that the benefits it produces serve only a limited number of people, while the others - the vast majority - are excluded from the benefits which the land yields. A...challenge is, therefore, presented to those that own or control land. + Address, Proprietors and Workers, Bacolod City, Philippines, February 20, 1981 The Common Good It was a common conviction, in fact, that to God alone, as Creator, belonged the...lordship over all Creation and over the earth in particular (cf. Lev. 25:23). If, in his Providence, God had given the earth to humanity, that meant he had given it to everyone. Therefore, the riches of Creation were to be considered as a common good of the whole of humanity. Those who possessed these goods as personal property were really only stewards, ministers charged with working in the name of God, who remains the sole owner in the full sense... + Apostolic Letter, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, November 10, 1994 The Needs of the Poor The needs of the poor must take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; production to meet social needs over production for military purposes. + Apostolic Visit to Canada, Anglican Church of Saint Paul, September 14, 1984 Respect for Nature Respect for nature by everyone, a policy of openness to immigrants, the cancellation or significant reduction of the debt of poorer nations, the promotion of peace through dialogue and negotiation, the primacy of the rule of law: these are the priorities the leaders of the developed nations cannot disregard. + Address to President George W. Bush at Castel Gandlfo, July 23, 2001 God: The Earth is Mine The Jubilee is a further summons to conversion of heart through a change of life. It is a reminder to all that they should give absolute importance neither to the goods of the earth, since these are not God, nor to man’s domination or claim to domination, since the earth belongs to God and to him alone: “the earth is mine and you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev. 25:23). May this year of grace touch the hearts of those who hold in their hands the fate of the world’s peoples! + Bull of Indiction of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Incarnationis Mysterium, Saint Peter’s, November 29, 1998 We See Ourselves From the Moon For the first time, we see ourselves from the outside - from the moon - and we realize that we must be more responsible for ourselves, our neighbors, our institutions, and our planet, whatever may be our nation, religion, or political stance. + Address to Vatican Observatory Conference on Cosmology, July 6, 1985 Culture of Waste Unfortunately, in the countries of the so-called “developed” world, an irrational consumerism is spreading, a sort of “culture of waste,” that is becoming a widespread lifestyle. + Jubilee of the Agricultural World Address, Vatican, November 11, 2000 The Slave of Things It is a matter...not so much of “having more” as of “being more”... [Man] cannot become the slave of things, the slave of economic systems, the slave of production, the slave of his own products. A civilization purely materialistic in outline condemns a man to such slavery. + Encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, March 4, 1979 The Earth is God’s Gift A serious and serene reflection on man and human coexistence in society, enlightened and strengthened by the word of God and the teaching of the Church from the beginning, tells us that the earth is God's gift, the gift he made to all human beings, men and women, that he wants gathered in one family and in relationship with each other in a fraternal spirit. Therefore it is not permissible, because it is not in accord with God's plan, that this gift be used in such a way that its benefits favor only a few. + Homily During the Mass Celebrated for Farmers in Recife, July 7, 1980 © Copyright 1978 Libreria Editrice Vaticana Read More ->

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