Pope Francis launches academic program for 'ecological conversion'
ROME — Academic institutions need to promote an "ecological conversion" that combines natural and social sciences with theology, philosophy and ethics to help humanity safeguard creation, Pope Francis said.
Responding to current challenges requires a new way of learning and doing that is built on "openness, creativity, wider educational offerings, but also sacrifice, dedication, transparency and honesty in choosing, especially in these difficult times," he said at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University Oct. 7.
"Let's permanently ditch this — 'it has always been done this way' — it's suicide," he said at the launch of a new chair and program of studies at the school. Such an attitude undermines credibility "because it creates superficiality and answers that are valid only in appearance," he added.
Francis and Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, signed an agreement at the event establishing a new theological chair supported by UNESCO "On Futures of Education for Sustainability" at the pontifical university.
The signing coincided with the launch, together with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, of a new academic program dedicated to "Care for our common home and safeguarding creation." Both initiatives are endorsed by the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches.
Patriarch Bartholomew said the initiatives reflect the collaboration between the two "sister churches" and their commitment to work to protect "God's wonderful universe." They also reflect a needed interreligious and interdisciplinary approach to the urgent environmental challenges of today, especially concerning climate change, he added.
The chair will encompass the fields of theology, philosophy, law and socioeconomic aspects "in order to train and shape students [in] how to respond to the ecological crisis in a collaborative and conscientious manner," he said.
Francis praised the patriarch's decades long dedication to promoting the safeguarding of creation, quoting the patriarch's conviction that safeguarding "is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God's world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion."
Addressing the complexity of threats to the planet, its inhabitants and the most vulnerable requires "responsibility, practicality and competence," the pope said.
The original mission of every university was to be a place where students and teachers dedicated to diverse fields of study could come together to discuss and find creative ways forward, he said. Today, he said, this includes forming an "ecological conscience" and conducting research on how to best protect creation.
"Academic activity is called to promote integral ecological conversion to protect the splendor of nature" by merging social and natural sciences with theological, philosophical and ethical reflection so as to impact regulations and legal standards as well contribute to "a healthy economic vision," Francis said.
The aim includes protecting creation "from nefarious deeds, perhaps inspired by policies, an economy and formation tied to immediate results that benefit a few," he added.
In a letter addressed to Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University, formally instituting the school's new program of studies and chair, the pope wrote that they reflect the church's efforts to live up to its duty to protect creation.
"We, believers and nonbelievers, have the duty to guarantee not an abstract [form of] sustainability or to proclaim the good of future generations, but to develop the tools for safeguarding diverse ecosystems" in ways that are scientifically valid and culturally courageous, he wrote.
The pope wrote that the new chair and studies in safeguarding creation are also meant to benefit church organizations, consecrated life, religious associations and movements and anyone who wishes "to acquire that conscience, knowledge and environmental competence needed for a commitment inspired by a just and sustainable model of the human being, life, society and a relationship with nature."
Pope at Lateran: Damage to earth threatens life itself
Pope Francis has inaugurated a new cycle of studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, dedicated to ecological and environmental issues, in conjunction with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and UNESCO.
By Vatican News staff reporter
In the presence of Patriarch Bartholomew I and Audrey Azoulay, Director of UNESCO, Pope Francis issued a stark warning: As the COP26 conference draws nearer, he said, there is the awareness that “the harm we are doing to the planet is no longer limited to climate damage, water, and soil, but now threatens life itself on earth.”
In the face of this, he underlined, “it is not enough to repeat statements of principle that make us feel good.” No, he added, “the complexity of the ecological crisis, in fact, demands responsibility, concreteness, and competence.”
Speaking on Thursday morning at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University, he recalled the "Faith and Science" event that took place in the Vatican this week and included the participation of scientists and representatives of different religions. He was struck, he revealed, by the words of one of the scientists who said, "My granddaughter, who was born last month, will have to live in an uninhabitable world if we don't change things."
Universities to form ecological consciousness
Speaking in this place of learning, the Pope harked back to the original mission of 'Universitas', “where students and faculty come together to reflect and creatively work out new ways forward.” “The effort to form ecological consciousness and develop research to protect the common home passes through the Universities,” Pope Francis said.
Continuing on this point, the Pope underlined, “Academic activity is called to foster an integral ecological conversion in order to preserve the splendor of nature, first of all by reconstructing the necessary unity between the natural and social sciences with what is offered by theological, philosophical and ethical reflection, so as to inspire juridical norms and a sound economic vision.”
Ecology and Environment studies
During his discourse, Pope Francis expressed his thanks to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for its “active attention” to this Ecology and Environment initiative.
It is a path, he said, that will operate together with the Patriarchate of Constantinople with "an open perspective" capable of "welcoming the attention of the Christian Churches, the different religious communities, those who are searching and those who profess to be non-believers." The cycle of studies, the Pope stressed, should therefore be a meeting point of experiences and thoughts, combining them through the method of scientific research. “The University not only shows itself to be an expression of the unity of knowledge but also the repository of an imperative that has no religious, ideological or cultural boundaries.”
Expectations for 2030 sustainable development goals receding
Warning that expectations for the 2030 sustainable development goals are receding, Pope Francis said "there is no ecology without an adequate anthropology. Without a true integral ecology, we will have a new imbalance, which will not only fail to resolve problems but will add new ones.”
Therefore, "the idea of a special cycle of studies,” the Pope underlined, “serves to transform even among believers the mere interest in the environment into a mission carried out by trained people, the fruit of an adequate educational experience. This is the greatest responsibility in the face of those who, because of environmental degradation, are excluded, abandoned, and forgotten.”
He continued by saying, “This is a work to which the Churches, by vocation; and every person of goodwill, are called to make the necessary contribution, becoming the voice of the voiceless, rising above partisan interests and not merely complaining.”
"Let's abandon the yes it's always been done this way," the Pope said, "it is suicidal ... Instead, we are called to do qualified work, which demands generosity and gratuitousness from everyone in order to respond to a cultural context whose challenges await concreteness, precision, and the ability to confront them." Hence the invitation to "sow beauty and not pollution and destruction."
Signing of the UNESCO Convention
At the end of the meeting, the Pope, along with the Patriarch and the Director of UNESCO, jointly signed the UNESCO Convention for the new cycle of studies in the "University of the Pope" on Ecology and Environment.
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