Everything is linked to everything else in the Creation

“Praise be to the Lord is not a green, but rather a social Encyclical Letter – stated Monsignor Filippo Santoro – because everything is connected; everything is related to everything else so we must not consider problems separately. The eternal conflict between protecting the environment and protecting jobs can no longer be tolerated. Production cannot be separated from respect for the dignity of man and of the environment. For this reason the key word is ecology – continued Monsignor Santoro – an environmental, social and cultural ecology, which starts by listening to reality. A global ecology then, as we are reminded by Pope Francis, which can help us overcome individualism and free ourselves from technocratic control. Only then will we be capable of leading a new lifestyle that respects the Creation”.

The spiritual dimension of ecological conversion

“The Pope’s extraordinary commitment regarding themes of ecology is extremely useful for those whose work entails protecting the environment and I feel grateful to him for that, as a Minister, as an Italian citizen and as a Christian – stated Luca Galletti – clearly ecological emergencies are also social emergencies and in my experience as a Minister each day I see how the Church is a reference point for the communities struck by environmental and social disasters, also for the Italian Government. I think that the Pope’s appeal for ecological conversion, for a global ecology that is environmental but also economic and social, is making progress – continued the Minister- the Pope, together with the commitment of his bishops, has had a powerful effect on environmental themes because he comes from a different dimension, a spiritual one, and calls for a different commitment, a moral one”.