creation”.
14
He has repeatedly stated this firmly and persuasively, challenging us to acknowledge our
sins against creation: “For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for
human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the
earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s
waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins”.
15
For “to commit a crime against the natural world
is a sin against ourselves and a sin againstGod”.
16
9.
At the same time, Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of
environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a
change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace
consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism
which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, ofmoving gradually
away fromwhat Iwant towhat God’sworld needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion”.
17
As Christians, we are also called “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of
sharingwithGod and our neighbours on a global scale. It is our humble conviction that the divine and
the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of
dust of our planet”.
18
Saint Francis of Assisi
10.
I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure,
whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that
Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived
out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study andwork in the area of ecology,
and he is alsomuch loved bynon-Christians. Hewas particularly concerned forGod’s creation and for
the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his
openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrimwho lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony
14
Message for theDayof Prayer for theProtection ofCreation
(1September 2012).
15
Address in Santa Barbara, California
(8 November 1997); cf. JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS,
On Earth as in Heaven:
Ecological Vision and Initiatives of EcumenicalPatriarchBartholomew
,Bronx,NewYork, 2012.
16
Ibid.
17
Lectureat theMonasteryofUtstein
,Norway (23 June2003).
18
“GlobalResponsibilityandEcological Sustainability”
,
ClosingRemarks,Halki Summit I, Istanbul (20 June 2012).
