This September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is celebrated, established by Pope Francis in 2015, in line with the theme of his encyclical. Praised yes (Praise you), about caring for the common home.
This World Day also begins the so-called “Time of Creation”, which runs from today until next October 4, the day on which the Church celebrates the feast of the great Saint Francis of Assisi.
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On August 30, the Holy Father also encouraged all the faithful in the world to pray during the month of September for “the cry of the earth,” which ends up affecting the most vulnerable on the planet.
In your message for the world day of this 2024published on June 27 and titled “Wait and act with creation,” Pope Francis explains that each of the believers has faith “because the Holy Spirit dwells in us” and this Spirit “makes believers creative.” , pro-active in charity”, in love.
With this, the Holy Father continues, each faithful can be certain that death is not the end: “Here is the great hope: the love of God has conquered, conquers and will always continue to conquer. Despite the prospect of physical death, for the new man who lives in the Spirit the destiny of glory is already certain.”
Pope Francis further highlights that “Christian salvation enters into the depth of the world’s pain, which not only affects human beings, but the entire universe; to nature itself, oikos of man, his vital environment; “It understands creation as an ‘earthly paradise’, Mother Earth, which should be a place of joy and promise of happiness for all.”
In that sense, he continues, “hope that does not disappoint” and that is realistic in the face of the “moaning” of creation and of men, who must live in harmony so that it extends to the common home of all, is necessary.
After briefly reflecting on the evils of the world, the Pope emphasizes that “the salvation of man in Christ is a sure hope also for creation.”
The Pontiff also emphasizes that “waiting and acting with creation means, first of all, joining forces and, walking together with all men and women of good will, contributing to ‘rethinking among all the question of human power, what its meaning is. , what are its limits’”.
“Today it is urgent to put ethical limits on the development of artificial intelligence, which, with its capacity for calculation and simulation, could be used to dominate man and nature, instead of putting it at the service of peace and integral development,” continue.
Pope Francis then specifies that “the care of creation is not only an ethical question, but also an eminently theological one, since it concerns the intertwining of the mystery of man with the mystery of God.”
“Waiting and acting with creation means, therefore, living an incarnate faith, which knows how to enter the suffering and hopeful flesh of people, sharing the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord,” he highlights.
“A life that becomes a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation, and that finds its fulfillment in holiness,” concludes Pope Francis.
Originally published September 1, 2023. Has been updated with the 2024 message for republication
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.