“The effects of this war can be seen in the many rivers that are drying up,” said Francis in his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation set for September 1.
“(Pope) Benedict XVI once observed that: ‘the external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast’,” he continued.
“Consumerist greed, fuelled by selfish hearts, is disrupting the planet’s water cycle. The unrestrained burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests are pushing temperatures higher and leading to massive droughts.
“Alarming water shortages increasingly affect both small rural communities and large metropolises,” said the Pope, who has made protecting the environment a central theme of his pontificate.
“Moreover, predatory industries are depleting and polluting our freshwater sources through extreme practices such as fracking for oil and gas extraction, unchecked mega-mining projects, and intensive animal farming.
“‘Sister Water’, in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, is pillaged and turned into ‘a commodity subject to the laws of the market’,” continued Francis, quoting from his own 2015 encyclical letter Laudato si’ on care for our common home.
“The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that acting now with greater urgency means that we will not miss our chance to create a more sustainable and just world.
“We can and we must prevent the worst from happening,” said the pope.
“Truly, much can be done, provided we come together like so many streams, brooks and rivulets, merging finally in a mighty river to irrigate the life of our marvellous planet and our human family for generations to come.
“So let us join hands and take bold steps to ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow’ throughout our world,” he concluded.
ANSA
