Pope Francis: "Those born will live in an uninhabitable world if ..."

"I was struck by a scientist (scientist, ed.) Who said: my granddaughter who was born last month will have to live in a uninhabitable world if things don't change ”.

Thus Papa Francesco, in the speech at the Pontifical Lateran University where he presides this morning - Thursday 7 October - the Academic Act for the establishment of the cycle of studies on the 'Care of our Common Home and protection of Creation' and the UNESCO Chair 'On Futures of Education for Sustainability '.

"Today, common reflection as disciples of Christ has managed to penetrate many contexts by bringing together interests that are often distant, such as in the context of international organizations, of special multilateral conferences dedicated to different environmental sectors or ecosystems", said the Pope seated at side of the ecumenical Orthodox patriarch.

“In this perspective, for example, fits the recent Message that, with Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Justin Welby, Primate of the Anglican Church, we have prepared in view of the COP26 appointment in Glasgow, which is now imminent. I think we are all aware of this: the evil we are doing to the planet it is no longer limited to damage to the climate, water and soil, but now threatens life itself on earth. Faced with this, it is not enough to repeat statements of principle, which make us feel right because, among other things, we are also interested in the environment. The complexity of the ecological crisis, in fact, demands responsibility, concreteness and competence ”.

"To the Lateran academic community, in all its components, I address my encouragement to continue, with humility and perseverance, inintercept the signs of tempthe. An attitude that requires openness, creativity, broader educational offers, but also sacrifice, commitment, transparency and honesty in choices, especially in this difficult time. Let us definitively abandon that 'it has always been done like this': it is suicidal that 'it has always been done like this', which does not make it credible because it generates superficiality and answers that are valid only in appearance ”, added the Pontiff.

“We are called, instead, to qualified work, which asks everyone for generosity and gratuitousness to respond to a cultural context whose challenges await concreteness, precision and the ability to compare. May God fill us with his tenderness and pour out the strength of his love on our path, "so that we sow beauty and not pollution and destruction".