Σήμερα, 4 Οκτωβρίου 2021, η Α.Θ. Παναγιότης ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαίος μαζί με την Α. Αγιότητα τον Πάπα Φραγκίσκο παρέστησαν στην επίσημη τελετή υπογραφής της εκκλήσεως θρησκευτικών ηγετών υπό τον τίτλο "Faith and Science: Towards COP26".
Μετά την υπογραφή του κειμένου
ακολούθησαν σύντομες παρεμβάσεις από τον Πάπα, τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη και
τον Αρχιεπίσκοπο Καντουαρίας, καθώς και εκπροσώπους των κυριωτέρων θρησκευτικών
Κοινοτήτων, της Νεολαίας και του Πολιτικού, Διπλωματικού και Ακαδημαϊκού χώρου.
Στη συνέχεια ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης
συναντήθηκε κατ' ιδίαν με τον Πάπα και είχε εγκάρδια αδελφική επικοινωνία επί
θεμάτων αμοιβαίου ενδιαφέροντος.
Το απόγευμα ο Παναγιώτατος μίλησε στην
συνάντηση "Science and Ethics for Happiness Project" σχετικά με την
φτώχεια στον κόσμο.
Η συνάντηση πραγματοποιήθηκε στην
Ακαδημία Επιστημών του Βατικανού, με την επιστημονική ευθύνη του Ελλογιμ.
Καθηγητού κ. Jeffrey Sachs.
Αργότερα, ο Πατριάρχης ευλόγησε την
τράπεζα που παρέθεσε προς τιμήν του ο Πρέσβης της Ελλάδος στο Βατικανό Εξοχ. κ.
Παναγιώτης Καλογερόπουλος, με την συμμετοχή Ορθοδόξων και Ρωμαιοκαθολικών
προσκεκλημένων.
……………………………………………..
Message of His
All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on World Oceans Day 2020
On World Oceans
Day 2020, we renew our call to the global community to work collectively in
addressing the threats to our planet’s oceans, seas and rivers.
Since 1995, we have initiated nine inter-religious and
inter-disciplinary symposia throughout the world, assembling international
scientists and environmentalists, politicians and economists, as well as
activists and journalists to meet with religious leaders and theologians in
order to address the plight of our world’s waterways and water.
We have learned that the biological diversity of life in our oceans is
one of the most imperative and effective solutions to the ecological crisis. Only in 2019, the
report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has demonstrated
how the oceans have protected our planet against the severest impacts of
climate change. Indeed, the present pandemic has taught us that healthy
ecosystems are paramount for mitigating health risks to humans.
Nevertheless, the ocean’s life and ecosystems continue to suffer from
the excessive and destructive footprint of unsustainable human activity, such
as by depletion through overfishing or contamination through fossil fuels. Moreover, the
ongoing use and thoughtless waste of plastic results in a devastating pollution
of our oceans and threat to marine life.
This is why we commend nations that create marine-protected areas, while
cautioning others that reverse environmental regulations. All of us have a
significant role to play: from politicians and corporations that should promote
clean water over private profit to industries and individuals that can advocate
for single-use plastics or volunteer for cleanups. Together, we can all make a
substantial difference.
Protecting God’s creation is a moral duty; but it is also our only hope
for survival. “For
the one God in Trinity is glorified in the heavens, proclaimed in the earth,
magnified in the sea and extolled in every physical and immaterial creature.”
(From the Liturgy of St James).
…………………………………….
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEETING
“FAITH AND SCIENCE: TOWARDS COP26”
Hall of Benediction
Monday, 4 October 2021
____________________________________
Religious Leaders and Representatives,
Excellencies,
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your presence, which
clearly shows our desire for a deepened dialogue among ourselves and with
scientific experts. I would like to propose three concepts that can guide our
reflection on this shared endeavour: openness to interdependence and
sharing, the dynamism of love and the call to respect.
1. Everything is connected; in our
world, everything is profoundly interrelated. Science, but also our religious
beliefs and spiritual traditions, have stressed this connectedness between
ourselves and the rest of creation. We recognize the signs of divine
harmony present in the natural world, for no creatures are self-sufficient;
they exist only in dependence on each other, complementing one another and in
the service of one another. [1] We
might even say that the Creator has given each to the other so that they can
grow and reach fulfilment in a relationship of love and respect. Plants,
waters and animals are guided by a law imprinted upon them by God for the
benefit of all creation.
Recognizing that the world is
interconnected means not only realizing the harmful effects of our actions, but
also identifying behaviours and solutions to be adopted, in an attitude
of openness to interdependence and sharing. We cannot act alone, for each
of us is fundamentally responsible to care for others and for the environment.
This commitment should lead to an urgently needed change of direction, nurtured
also by our respective religious beliefs and spirituality. For Christians,
openness to interdependence springs from the very mystery of the Triune
God: “The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the
extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to
live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In this way,
they make their own that Trinitarian dynamism which God imprinted in them when
they were created”. [2]
Today’s meeting, which brings together
many cultures and spiritualities in a spirit of fraternity, can only strengthen
our realization that we are members of one human family. Each of us has his or
her religious beliefs and spiritual traditions, but no cultural, political or
social borders or barriers prevent us from standing together. To illumine and
direct this openness, let us commit ourselves to a future shaped by
interdependence and co-responsibility.
2. This commitment must constantly be
driven by the dynamism of love, for “in the depths of every heart, love
creates bonds and expands existence, for it draws people out of themselves and
towards others”. [3] Love’s
driving force, however, is not set in motion once for all; it needs to be
renewed daily. That is one of the great contributions that
our religious and spiritual traditions can make to help bring about this much
needed change of course.
Love is the mirror of an intense
spiritual life: a love that extends to all, transcending cultural, political
and social boundaries; a love that is inclusive, concerned especially for the
poor, who so often teach us how to overcome the barriers of selfishness and to
break down the walls of our ego.
This represents a challenge born of
our need to counter the “throwaway culture” so prevalent in our society and
resting on what our Joint Appeal calls the “seeds of conflicts: greed,
indifference, ignorance, fear, injustice, insecurity and violence”. Those seeds
of conflict cause the serious wounds we are inflicting on the environment, such
as climate change, desertification, pollution and loss of biodiversity. These
in turn are leading to the breaking of “that covenant between human beings and
the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we
come and towards whom we are journeying”. [4]
The challenge to work for a culture of care for our
common home, but also for ourselves, is one that inspires hope, for surely
humanity has never possessed as many means for achieving this goal as it
possesses today. We can face this challenge on various levels. I would like to
emphasize two of them in particular: example and action, and education.
Inspired by our religious beliefs and spiritual traditions, we can make
important contributions in both these areas. Many opportunities present
themselves, as the Joint Appeal clearly notes in pointing to the various
educational and training programmes that we can develop to promote care for our
common home.
3. That care is also a call to
respect: respect for creation, respect for our neighbour, respect for ourselves
and for the Creator, but also mutual respect between faith and science, in
order to enter into a mutual “dialogue for the sake of protecting nature,
defending the poor, and building networks of respect and fraternity”. [5]
Respect, in this sense, is more than
an abstract and passive recognition of others. It is an empathetic and active
experience of desiring to know others and to enter into dialogue with them, in
order to walk together on a common journey. For, as the Appeal goes on to
state, “what we can achieve depends not only on opportunities and resources,
but also on hope, courage and good will”.
Openness to interdependence and
sharing, the dynamism of love and a call to respect. These are,
I believe, three interpretative keys that can shed light on our efforts to care
for our common home. COP26 in Glasgow represents an urgent summons to provide
effective responses to the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of
values that we are presently experiencing, and in this way to offer concrete
hope to future generations. We want to accompany it with our commitment and our
spiritual closeness.
________________________________________
[1] Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 86.
[2] Ibid., 240.
[3] Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 88.
[4] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 50.
[5] Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 201.
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