VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The following are selected quotes from Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’, on the Care of Our Common Home”:
— The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. (n. 21)
— Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right. (n. 33)
— This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen. (n. 59)
— We are not God. (n. 67)
— The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God. (n. 84)
— It is clearly inconsistent to combat trafficking in endangered species while remaining completely indifferent to human trafficking, unconcerned about the poor, or undertaking to destroy another human being deemed unwanted. (n. 91)
— This situation has led to a constant schizophrenia, wherein a technocracy which sees no intrinsic value in lesser beings coexists with the other extreme, which sees no special value in human beings. (n. 118)
— Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. (n. 120)
— The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. (n. 155)
— Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. (n. 160)
— Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. (n. 161)
— We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels — especially coal, but
also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas — needs to be progressively replaced without delay. (n. 165)
— Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. (n. 202)
— “Less is more.” A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. (n. 222)
— In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up (grazing) here and there, always on the lookout for what they do not have. (n. 223)
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