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 and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’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 pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself.
He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.
ENCYCLICAL LETTER, LAUDATO SI’, 10
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2015
A Harmonious Unity
Our world, in the heart and mind of God, is the “house of harmony and peace,”…it is the space in which everyone is able to find their proper place and feel “at home,” because it is “good.”
All of creation forms a harmonious and good unity, but above all humanity, made in the image and likeness of God, is one family, in which relationships are marked by a true fraternity not only in words: the other person is a brother or sister to love, and our relationship with God, who is love, fidelity and goodness, mirrors every human relationship and brings harmony to the whole of creation.
VIGIL OF PRAYER FOR PEACE, ST. PETER’S SQUARE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2013
Everything Is Interrelated
Because we dwell in a common home, we cannot help but ask ourselves about the state of its health, as I sought to do in Laudato Si’. Water and air pollution, the indiscriminate exploitation of forests, and the destruction of the natural environment are often the result of man’s indifference to man, since everything is interrelated.
Then too, there is the way we treat animals, which has an effect on the way we treat other people, not to mention what people freely do elsewhere that they would never dare do at home.
In these and in other situations, indifference leads to self-absorption and a lack of commitment. It thus contributes to the absence of peace with God, with our neighbor and with the environment.MESSAGE FOR THE 2016 WORLD DAY OF PEACE,
FROM THE VATICAN
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015
