One Human Family
Pope Benedict XVI, on the World Day of Peace in 2008, said, “The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion.” We are one human family, our home is the earth and we all have a responsibility for the care of one another and our home. This responsibility is response to God’s call to “fill the earth and subdue it” and to “love one another as I have loved you.”
Bishop Thomas G. Wenski addresses the issue of climate change and how it impacts the poor and vulnerable:
“The U.S. Catholic bishops insist that responding to climate change raises fundamental questions of morality and justice, fairness and shared sacrifice. As bishops, we lead a Church, not an interest group. We are not ‘the environmental movement at prayer.’ Rather we lead communities of faith that have been called to care for God’s creation and the poor since Genesis.”
“As our Bishops’ Conference testified before Senator Boxer’s Committee, ‘The real “inconvenient truth” is that those who contribute least to climate change will be affected the most and have the least capacity to cope or escape. The poor and vulnerable are most likely to pay the price of inaction or unwise actions. We know from our everyday experience their lives, homes, children, and work are most at risk.’”