4.
In 1971, eight years after
Pacem in Terris
, Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological
concern as “a tragic consequence” of unchecked human activity: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation
of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation”.
2
He spoke in similar terms to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations about the
potential for an “ecological catastrophe under the effective explosion of industrial civilization”, and
stressed “the urgent need for a radical change in the conduct of humanity”, inasmuch as “the most
extraordinary scientific advances, the most amazing technical abilities, the most astonishing economic
growth, unless they are accompanied by authentic social and moral progress, will definitively turn
againstman”.
3
5.
Saint John Paul II became increasingly concerned about this issue. In his first Encyclical he
warned that human beings frequently seem “to see no other meaning in their natural environment than
what serves for immediate use and consumption”.
4
Subsequently, hewould call for a global ecological
conversion
.
5
At the same time, he noted that little effort had been made to “safeguard the moral
conditions for an authentic
human ecology
”.
6
The destruction of the human environment is extremely
serious, not onlybecauseGod has entrusted theworld to usmen andwomen, but because human life is
itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement. Every effort to protect and
improve ourworld entails profound changes in “lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and
the established structures of power which today govern societies”.
7
Authentic human development has
amoral character. It presumes full respect for the human person, but it must also be concerned for the
world around us and “take into account the nature of each being and of its mutual connection in an
ordered system”.
8
Accordingly, our human ability to transform realitymust proceed in linewithGod’s
original gift of all that is.
9
2
Apostolic Letter
OctogesimaAdveniens
(14May1971), 21:AAS 63 (1971), 416-417.
3
Address toFAOon the25thAnniversary of its Institution
(16November 1970), 4:AAS 62 (1970), 833.
4
Encyclical Letter
RedemptorHominis
(4March 1979), 15:AAS 71 (1979), 287.
5
Cf.
Catechesis
(17 January2001), 4:
Insegnamenti
41/1 (2001), 179.
6
Encyclical Letter
CentesimusAnnus
(1May1991), 38:AAS83 (1991), 841.
7
Ibid., 58:AAS 83 (1991), p. 863.
8
JOHNPAUL II, Encyclical Letter
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis
(30December 1987), 34:AAS80 (1988), 559.
9
Cf. ID.,Encyclical Letter
CentesimusAnnus
(1May1991), 37:AAS83 (1991), 840.
