At the heart of His Holiness Pope Francis’ message for the IV annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which the Church now celebrates in union with the Orthodox Church, is the vital resource that is water. Noting the fundamental role of water in creation and human development, the Pontiff stresses that it is precisely for this reason that “care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative.”
As reported by Vatican Radio, Dwelling on water from a Christian perspective, His Holiness Pope Francis says this fundamental resource “represents an essential element of purification and of life and comments that “Jesus, in the course of his mission, promised a water capable of quenching human thirst for ever”. In his message, the Pontiff also focuses on seas and oceans saying that “constant care for this inestimable treasure represents today an ineluctable duty and a genuine challenge. He goes on to say that, “we cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic. We need to pray as if everything depended on God’s providence, and work as if everything depended on us.”
Concluding his message His Holiness Pope Francis expressed the hope that Christian communities, and young people too, “may contribute more and more concretely helping everyone to enjoy this indispensable resource, in respectful care for the gifts received from the Creator, and in particular rivers, seas and oceans.”
