The Pope Gives Me Hope

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal commitment to protecting the environment delights me and gives me hope. I am gratified to see an increasing amount of statements from the Holy See on the environment, particularly on global warming and energy consumption.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, affirmed this commitment during the session “Addressing Climate Change: The United Nations and the World at Work.”

In his February 13th address, Archbishop Migliore noted some of the steps the Vatican is taking to offset their carbon footprints. Solar panels are scheduled to be installed in the Vatican. The Holy See is also participating in a tree planting project in Hungary, which will “provide environmental benefits to the host country, assist in the recovery of an environmentally degraded tract of land, and provide local jobs.”

He highlighted the shared responsibility of individuals and nations in protecting the planet.

“It is incumbent upon every individual and nation to seriously assume one’s share of the responsibility to find and implement the most balanced approach possible to this challenge,” he said. “Sustainable development  provides the key to a strategy that harmoniously takes into account the demands of environmental preservation, climate change, economic development and basic human needs.”

Midnight Mass Homily Has Ecological Theme

Using an image from St. Gregory of Nyssa, Benedict XVI said the stable in Bethlehem represents our “ill-treated world,” polluted especially by the abuse of energy and its exploitation.

During his homily at Christmas Midnight Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope spoke of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s interpretation of the stable into which Christ was born. “What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation?”

“Thus, according to Gregory’s vision, the stable in the Christmas message represents the ill-treated world. What Christ rebuilds is no ordinary place. He came to restore beauty and dignity to creation, to the universe…Christmas is the feast of restored creation.”