Often dubbed the green pope by the media, Pope Benedict has stressed on many occasions
the need for humans to protect and respect the environment. In his World Day of Peace
Message for 2010 he urged mankind to renew and strengthen that covenant between human
beings and the environment which should mirror the creative love of God. And when
it comes to God's creation, all living creatures come under that umbrella, even those
who have no utilitarian role for us humans.
Listen to a reflection that picks
up on that theme from Mary Colwell, an environmental adviser to the Catholic Bishops
Conference of England and Wales, who talks about her recent visit to the top of a
Scottish mountain where she watched the activites of a small arctic bird called the
Ptarmigan.