The ecumenism of Creation; still no agreement reached

Dec 11, 2015

By Francesco Peloso
No unanimous agreement has been reached for a turnabout in pollutant emission practices after the first week of negotiations. But although this shows the glass as half empty, the negotiations at the conference on climate change in Paris (COP21, November 30 - December 11), will be getting to the heart of the matter from now on. The coming days are going to be telling in terms of showing whether the world’s governments are going to give the planet and future generations a chance.

Diplomatic action has been coupled by a strong push and critical prompt to governments by the Christian Churches, which have joined forces in a sort of ecumenism of Creation. The two religious leaders who have been most active on this front are Pope Francis and Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul). A solemn ecumenical celebration “for the protection of creation” was held at Notre-Dame on 3 December. Bartholomew was unable to go to Paris in person as scheduled, due to security reasons, but he did send a message to mark the occasion. “The Ecumenical Patriarchate never ceases to reiterate, along with other Christian Churches, especially with our brother Pope Francis, that environmental protection must be a common ecumenical objective. The prayer we address to the Lord today is that world leaders will commit to reaching an agreement that can fully curb climate change.”

But Bartholomew, whose environmental awareness is not new, issued another statement recently, saying that: “unlike former generations, today we have no excuse. We have all the data and resources at hand. Yet, the crisis that we face has less to do with the environment and more to do with the way we perceive and treat the world. We are treating this earth in an inhumane and godless manner precisely because we see it in this way.” So political leaders in Paris have an enormous responsibility, also in light of the recent dramatic events that have cast a shadow over the European city.

After the wake-up call on climate change and poverty, which Francis sent with his Laudato Si’ encyclical, Francis in a way “inaugurated” the COP21, in the speech he addressed to the African UN headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, which specialises in the environment. Then, on the flight back to Rome, he stated: “We are on the verge of suicide, to use a strong word, and I am certain that people in Paris are aware of this and want to do something about it. The other day, I read that in Greenland, glaciers are losing mass at a rate of billions of tons. In the Pacific, there is a country that is buying another country to move to because in 20 years, it will cease to exist — because of rising sea levels. I trust these people will do something. I hope this will be the case and I pray it will.”

This is the direction Vatican diplomacy is moving in. In a speech delivered by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in Paris, he passed on the Pope’s wish that the summit “may result in the adoption of a global and ‘transformative’ agreement, based on the principles of solidarity, justice, equality and participation, orientated towards the attainment of three complex and interdependent objectives: mitigating the effects of climate change, combating poverty, and promoting the dignity of the human person.” This is significant.--Vatican Insider