14 DAY TRIAL // Courtesy of his behaving in fairly surprising and unpredictable ways, Pope Francis I has been causing quite a stir ever since he became the spiritual leader of Catholics worldwide.
Still, it appears that there is one thing this new Pope has in common with the previous one: his interest in safeguarding both the environment and wildlife.
While attending his first mass in St. Peter's Square, the Pope stressed the fact that one need not necessarily be a greenhead in order to be concerned about the wellbeing of the natural world.
Quite the contrary: being a religious person and believing in God should be more than enough to make one pay closer attention to how their actions impact on the environment.
According to Mongabay, the Pope's exact words on the matter at hand were as follows:
“Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be 'protectors' of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”
“It [being a good Catholic] means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us.”
“It means respecting each of God's creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about,” Pope Francis I went on to argue.
It is the new Pope's belief that promoting sustainability, cutting down on the amounts of pollution human society is causing, and tackling issues such as hunger and poverty are mandatory not just from an economic standpoint, but also from a moral one.
Seeing how 20,000 ordinary folks attended the Pope's mass in St. Peter's Square, one can only hope that Francis I was successful in getting his message across.