End oil and gas exploration
Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, called for an immediate end to new coal, oil and gas production. Czerny was presenting the pope’s message for the 2022 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. “Regarding COP27, Pope Francis joins scientists in holding to the Paris Agreement’s temperature increase goal of 1.5˚C. The planet already is 1.2˚C hotter, yet new fossil fuel projects accelerate our race towards the precipice. Enough! All new exploration and production of coal, oil and gas must immediately end, and existing production of fossil fuels must be urgently phased out. This must be a just transition for impacted workers into environmentally sound alternatives.”
Bishops decry corruption
The bishops of Guatemala invited Catholics “not to lose the illusion of building peace, seeking justice, defending life”. In a statement published on July 20 following their annual meeting they also said: “The problem in our country is that the corruption, irresponsibility, interests and political short-sightedness of the officials in all the organs of the state have corrupted the system, they have abused it, and created a dysfunctional state incapable of fulfilling its function of creating the common good.”
‘Link between generations’
Commemorating the second World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis described grandparents as the link between generations, passing on the experience of life and faith to the young. “Today we need to go back to grandparents. Young people must have contact with their grandparents, go back to them, go back to their roots, not to stay there but to take them forward like the tree, which takes strength from the roots and carries it forward in the flowers in the fruit.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)