The Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is of the same view.

Faith in God comes with two "inseparable" elements, Bartholomew said on Sunday which was the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

He said these two elements are the God-given dignity of the human person and the integrity of God's creation.

Religious groups must help

Francis says religious groups must help fight climate change because true progress will require conversion.

Bartholomew agrees.

"Genuine religious faith dissolves the arrogance and titanism of humankind" by helping people realise they are not God.

A person has no right to abolish "all standards, boundaries and values, while declaring himself ‘the measure of all things' and instrumentalising his fellow human beings and nature for the satisfaction of his unquenchable needs and arbitrary pursuits.

"Respect for the sacredness of the human person and the protection of the integrity of the ‘very good' creation are inseparable."

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Bartholomew's predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, instituted the annual day of prayer for creation in 1989.

In 2015, Francis added the day to the Catholic Church's annual observances.

His message for the 2024 day of prayer also speaks of the conversion necessary to leave behind "the arrogance of those who want to exercise dominion over others and nature itself, reducing the latter to an object to be manipulated".

Instead, it asks for people to embrace "the humility of those who care for others and for all of creation".

He said that "With God as the loving Father, his Son as the friend and redeemer of every person, and the Holy Spirit who guides our steps on the path of charity and obedience to the Spirit of love - this radically changes the way we think: from ‘predators' we become 'tillers' of the garden".

A shared message

Like Francis, Bartholomew's statement emphasised the connection between care for creation and love for one another, especially the poor.

"There is a close and indissoluble bond between our care of creation and our service to the body of Christ, just as there is between the economic conditions of the poor and the ecological conditions of the planet" he said.

"Scientists tell us that those most egregiously harmed by the current ecological crisis will continue to be those who have the least."

Source

• Our Sunday Visitor

Christian women worldwide participate in this day of prayer each year and, this year, the focus was on Palestine.

The theme "I Beg You … Bear With One Another in Love" was based on Ephesians 4:1-7 which calls people to bear with each other in love, despite all difficulties and oppression.

Palestinian women prepared the prayers and symbols used at last Friday's day of prayer. Participants invited the world to pray for peace, justice and freedom of religion and freedom of movement.

Their words and vision were shared with Christian women and men worldwide participating in the Palestinian women's carefully planned unified prayer service.

The annual event, led by an international and ecumenical Christian movement, involves people from various denominations who celebrate together in one another's churches.

Act of God

Reverend Kim Wright, chaplain at Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls in Stratford, says - given the situation for them at present - the fact that the Palestinian women prepared this year's service is incredibly meaningful.

"The decision as to which country's women will prepare the service is made years in advance, so when that decision was made, it wasn't with a knowledge of what would be happening in Palestine right now.

"So for it to have happened in this way, to happen this year, alongside what is happening in Palestine right now, for me that is an act of God in itself."

The prayer service

The service shared three Palestinian Christian women's stories, all of which witnessed the power of bearing together in love through three generations of Palestinian women's experiences.

This year a Palestinian born in Germany, Halima Aziz, produced the feature artwork (pictured) used throughout the international service.

Her picture of an olive tree - a Christian symbol of everlasting life - called "Praying Palestinian Women" depicts three Palestinian women sitting under an olive tree joined in prayer.

"It's not new, this idea of women joining together in prayer" Wright says.

Powerful prayer

Prayer is a powerful tool everyone can access, Wright says.

"The more we pray, the more we replace darkness with light ... we can make a difference for others."

The World Day of Prayer means many people pray on the same day for the same thing using the same service, she says.

"There is power in unity ... it is really meaningful and brings us together in love and faith."

Source

• The Horowhenua Chronicle
• The Horowhenua Chronicle

Pope Francis said he was instituting the prayer day for Catholics because he shares the concern of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who initiated a similar prayer day for the Orthodox Church in 1989.

The day of prayer, the Pope said, will give individuals and communities an opportunity to implore God's help in protecting creation and an opportunity to ask God's forgiveness "for sins committed against the world in which we live".

The suggestion to have Catholics and Orthodox praying for such a cause on the same day came from Metropolitan John of Pergamon

The Metropolitan represented Patriarch Bartholomew at the public presentation on June 18 of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si'.

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