Environment: The Pope highlights three lessons from the Montreal Protocol

Dialogue, global vision, integral ecology

Dialogue, global vision, integral ecology: these are the lessons Pope Francis draws from the Montreal Protocol on the protection of the ozone layer, in a message addressed to participants at the XXXI meeting of the parties, November 7, 2019.

The pope praises  "a model of international cooperation not only in the field of environmental protection but also in the promotion of integral human development."

He highlights "three lessons" learned since the opening of the treaty (1985) signed to date by 197 states. First lesson: "fruitful" cooperation between the scientific, political, economic and industrial worlds... "in a spirit of responsible solidarity." To face the current "cultural" challenge, it requires an "honest" dialogue "really capable of listening to different needs" without bias and without anyone "absolutising their point of view," he says.

The second lesson is that this challenge cannot be solved by seeing the "only solution to problems" in technology, which is "ordinarily unable to see the mystery of the multiple relationships that exist between things." Calling for a "broader vision," the pope cites Kigali's amendment on substances that affect global warming, calling for its "universal" approval and announcing the Holy See's intention to adhere to it.

Finally, the third lesson: the protection of the common home, he writes, must be an "integral ecology", i.e. "anchored in the realization that "everything is connected"". This vision, which takes into account the integral development of "all members of the human family, close or distant in space or time," must be shaped in educational and cultural centres, in places of training, and "where responsible decisions are made."

"The continual acceleration of the changes of humanity and the planet," concludes the pope, "coupled today with the intensification of the rhythms of life and work, should constantly make us wonder whether the goals of this progress are really towards the common good and towards human development, sustainable and integral, or if they deteriorate the world and the quality of life of a large part of humanity, now and in the future. »

Source: ZENIT 08 NOVEMBER 2019