![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/Pope%20with%20Diplomats.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Church is It is proper<\/span>, however, that this concern I would like to stress again that the How can we forget, for that matter, that the struggle for To carry our reflection further, we must remember that the problem of […]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What follows are excerpts of an address the Holy Father gave to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See today, January 11. I selected what I thought were some germane points for our consideration. […] The Church is open to everyone because, in God, she lives for others! She thus shares deeply in the … Continue reading Pope speaks to the Diplomatic Corps for 2010<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2158,32092],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nopen to everyone because, in God, she lives for others! She thus shares deeply
\nin the fortunes of humanity, which in this new year continues to be marked by
\nthe dramatic crisis of the global economy and consequently a serious and
\nwidespread social instability. In my Encyclical Caritas in Veritate<\/i>, I invited
\neveryone to look to the deeper causes of this situation: in the last analysis,
\nthey are to be found in a current self-centred and materialistic way of
\nthinking which fails to acknowledge the limitations inherent in every creature<\/span>.
\nToday I would like to stress that the same way of thinking also endangers
\ncreation. Each of us could probably cite an example of the damage that this has
\ncaused to the environment the world over. I will offer an example, from any
\nnumber of others, taken from the recent history of Europe. Twenty years ago,
\nafter the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the materialistic and
\natheistic regimes which had for several decades dominated a part of this
\ncontinent, was it not easy to assess the great harm which an economic system
\nlacking any reference to the truth about man had done not only to the dignity
\nand freedom of individuals and peoples, but to nature itself, by polluting
\nsoil, water and air?<\/span> The denial of God distorts the freedom of the human
\nperson, yet it also devastates creation<\/b>. It follows that the protection of
\ncreation is not principally a response to an aesthetic need, but much more to a
\nmoral need, in as much as nature expresses a plan of love and truth which is
\nprior to us and which comes from God.<\/p>\n
\nand commitment for the environment should be situated within the larger
\nframework of the great challenges now facing mankind<\/span>. If we wish to build true
\npeace, how can we separate, or even set at odds, the protection of the
\nenvironment and the protection of human life, including the life of the unborn?<\/i><\/b><\/span>
\nIt is in man’s respect for himself that his sense of responsibility for
\ncreation is shown. As Saint Thomas Aquinas has taught, man represents all that
\nis most noble in the universe<\/b> (cf. Summa Theologiae<\/i>, I, q. 29, a. 3).
\nFurthermore, as I noted during the recent FAO World Summit on Food Security,
\n“the world has enough food for all its inhabitants” (Address of 16
\nNovember 2009, No. 2) provided that selfishness does not lead some to hoard the
\ngoods which are intended for all.<\/p>\n
\nprotection of creation calls for an appropriate management of the natural
\nresources<\/b> of different countries and, in the first place, of those which are
\neconomically disadvantaged. I think of the continent of Africa, which I had the
\njoy of visiting last March during my journey to Cameroon and Angola, and which
\nwas the subject of the deliberations of the recent Special Assembly of the
\nSynod of Bishops. The Synod Fathers pointed with concern to the erosion and
\ndesertification of large tracts of arable land as a result of overexploitation
\nand environmental pollution (cf. Propositio 22). In Africa, as elsewhere, there
\nis a need to make political and economic decisions which ensure “forms of
\nagricultural and industrial production capable of respecting creation and
\nsatisfying the primary needs of all”<\/b> (Message for the 2010 World Day of
\nPeace, No. 10).<\/p>\n
\naccess to natural resources is one of the causes of a number of conflicts, not
\nleast in Africa, as well as a continuing threat elsewhere? For this reason too,
\nI forcefully repeat that to cultivate peace, one must protect creation!<\/b><\/i><\/span>
\nFurthermore, there are still large areas, for example in Afghanistan or in some
\ncountries of Latin America, where agriculture is unfortunately still linked to
\nthe production of narcotics, and is a not insignificant source of employment
\nand income. If we want peace, we need to preserve creation by rechanneling
\nthese activities<\/b>; I once more urge the international community not to become
\nresigned to the drug trade and the grave moral and social problems which it
\ncreates<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\nthe environment is complex<\/i>; one might compare it to a multifaceted prism.
\nCreatures differ from one another and can be protected, or endangered, in
\ndifferent ways, as we know from daily experience. One such attack comes from
\nlaws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the
\nbiological basis of the difference between the sexes. I am thinking, for
\nexample, of certain countries in Europe or North and South America<\/span>. Saint
\nColumban stated that: “If you take away freedom, you take away
\ndignity” (Ep. 4 ad Attela, in S. Columbani Opera<\/i>, Dublin, 1957, p. 34).
\nYet freedom cannot be absolute, since man is not himself God, but the image of
\nGod, God’s creation<\/b>. For man, the path to be taken cannot be determined by
\ncaprice or willfulness, but must rather correspond to the structure willed by
\nthe Creator<\/span>.