By Juliet Eilperin – June 26
Excerpts: “What remains for us is to preach what we practice,” said Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. “Now we must begin the long and difficult way from the mind to the heart . . . May God guide you in your service to his people and the care of his creation.”
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“For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation;…
for humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate,…
by stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands; for humans to injure other humans with disease,…
for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances,” he told a crowd that included then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. “These are sins.”
Pope Francis has likewise drawn global attention to environmental activism:…
On the same day Bartholomew was concluding his conference in Greece, the pope brought the leaders of multinational energy and investment firms to the Vatican to discuss the path forward on climate change.