“Tomorrow we will celebrate The World Day of Prayer for Creation. It is the start of the Time for Creation which will conclude on October 4, the feast day of St Francis of Assisi," Pope Francis told the faithful in the Vatican.
"May this year's theme, 'Listen to the voice of creation', favour in everyone a concrete commitment to take care of our common home”, he said.
"In the throes of our consumer excesses," the pontiff added, "our sister Mother Earth weeps and implores us to stop our abuse and its destruction".
In other remarks, Francis voiced his hope that Thursday's anniversary of the start of the Second World War would lead people to cultivate peace, and his hope that life would be reborn in the Italian quake-hit villages of Amatrice and Arquata.
In a video released on the same day Pope Francis called for a worldwide end to the death penalty, announcing his prayer intention for September.
"Each day, there is a growing 'No' to the death penalty around the world," the Argentine pontiff said.
"For the Church, this is a sign of hope." Francis went on to say that capital punishment was "morally inadmissible.”"
"Let us pray that the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country," he said.
