Pope Benedict urges leaders to be responsible stewards of creation

World leaders should address global environmental issues "with generous courage", that Man is called to responsible governance of creation and the current model of global development needs transformation, Pope Benedict said yesterday.

Speaking at his General Audience he said: "The different phenomena of environmental degradation and natural catastrophes, which unfortunately occur all too often, remind us of the urgency of dutiful respect toward nature, recovering and valuing a correct relationship with the environment each day."

He said creation was entrusted to man, "to interpret it and actively remodel it without considering himself the absolute patron of it. Man is called, above all, to exercise responsible governance of it, cultivating it and finding necessary resources for a dignified existence of all."

The pope addressed his remarks to representatives of governments and international agencies who will attend a summit on climate change in New York next month.


Recent forest fires near Athens and water shortages elsewhere were signs that "creation is under threat", and it was everyone's collective responsibility to protect it, Pope Benedict said.

Government leaders have an obligation to work together for the "the safeguarding of resources and of the climate," in respect of the law and in solidarity with weaker nations.

The Holy Father said that natural resources must be shared and the socio economic costs of consuming them "must be recognised with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations,"

"It is essential that the current model of global development be transformed through a greater and shared acceptance of the responsibility for creation," made necessary not only because of environmental issues "but also by the scandal of hunger and human misery."

Source: MISNA/Vatican Radio