Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for Brazil’s Annual Fraternity Campaign

(March 09, 201) The obligation to take care of the environment is an imperative which stems from the awareness that God entrusts His creation to man, not to use it indiscriminately but with delicate care as it is the inheritance coming from God to human persons, said Pope Benedict XVI. He communicated this in his message to the Brazil’s Annual Fraternity Campaign 2011 sent to Archbishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha, President of the Brazilian Conference of Bishops. The theme for this year’s Campaign is: "Fraternity and life on the planet," calling the change in mentality and attitudes for the protection of creation. Reflecting on the theme, the Pope said in the words of St Paul to Romans that the creation groans in travail and at the same time the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. The Pontiff explained that the first step to a correct relationship with the world around us is the recognition of man as a creature created in the image of God and therefore must seek to become more sensitive to the presence of God in and through the creatures surrounding him. This will enable the human person to respect the environment in which he lives. The Pontiff added that the first ecology being advocated is the human ecology which without a clear defence of human life from conception to natural death, without a defence of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman, without a real defence of those who are excluded and marginalized by society, without forgetting, in this context, those who lost everything, victims of natural disasters could scarcely speak of a genuine defence of the environment. The Campaign which stressed global warming and climate change would channelize the funds raised for the diocesan and national solidarity.