Humanity must have more direct contact with nature to counter the modern lifestyles that are destroying the planet, Pope Francis said.
Respecting and loving the earth as well as seeking direct contact with nature “are values that we need so much today as we discover ourselves increasingly powerless before the consequences of irresponsible and short-sighted exploitation of the planet,” he told members of the Italian Catholic Movement of Adult Scouts.
Meeting with the members, dressed in their scouting uniforms, at the Vatican on 13th April, the pope said people in modern society are “prisoners of lifestyles and behaviors that are as selfishly deaf to every appeal of common sense as they are tragically self-destructive; insensitive to the cry of a wounded earth, as well as to the voice of so many brothers and sisters unjustly marginalized and excluded from an equitable distribution of goods.”
Picture: Pope Francis greets members of the Italian Catholic Movement of Adult Scouts during a meeting at the Vatican, 13th April 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)