Newsmaker – Pope Urges Youths to Care for Planet

By Nicole Winfield

LORETO, Italy – The planet risks irreversible decline from environmentally unsustainable development, Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday, urging young Catholics to take the lead in caring for the Earth and its precious resources.

During an open-air Mass on the final day of a weekend religious youth rally that drew about 500,000 people to the town of Loreto, Italy’s most important shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Benedict said the world’s water supply particularly needed to be preserved and shared equitably.

The Loreto meeting, organized by the Italian bishops’ conference, carried a strong environmental message. Participants were given biodegradable plates, recycling bags for their trash and a hand- cranked cell-phone recharger.

Benedict told the crowd, camped out under umbrellas and tents on a vast, dusty field on the Adriatic coast, that it was up to them to save the planet from development that had often ignored “nature’s delicate equilibrium.”

“Before it’s too late, we need to make courageous choices that will recreate a strong alliance between man and Earth,” Benedict said. “We need a decisive ‘yes’ to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible.”

He said water needed to be preserved since “it unfortunately becomes a source of strong tensions and conflicts if it isn’t shared in an equitable and peaceful manner.”

Benedict lamented this week the environmental impact of recent forest fires in Italy and Greece. And during his summer vacation in the mountains, he spoke frequently about the importance of nature in inspiring spirituality.

The Loreto meeting was an Italian warmup for next year’s World Youth Day, in Sydney, Australia.

Originally published by Nicole Winfield Associated Press .

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