PRESS STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
CATHOLIC CHURCH REMINDS POLICY MAKERS THAT THE ENVIRONMENT MUST NOT BE DESTROYED JUST FOR DEVELOPMENT OR SURVIVAL.
LUSAKA. 4th October, 2021 -The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has reminded policy makers that the environment must not be destroyed just for the sole purpose of development or survival, but that biodiversity should be preserved.
ZCCB Secretary General Fr. Francis Mukosa said this in a statement issued on 4th October, 2021 at the closure of the season of creation for 2021 at the Catholic Secretariat.
The Season of Creation is a period that Christians are encouraged to think of the ecological crisis facing the world at large today.
This year, the world’s 2.3 billion Christians have united to celebrate the care for the environment under the theme: “A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God,” which is focused on the fact that the earth belongs to God, and each beloved creature belongs to this common home.
In reminding policy makers not to destroy the environment, Father Mukosa added that biodiversity should be preserved because of its wildlife and natural attributes which would attract people to the location and protect the common home (earth).
The Catholic Bishops in Zambia have since called for a restart button into the future regarding the care for the environment.
“From the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, we call for a restart button for us to go into the future. We call on governments worldwide to do things that are not only legally correct, but ecologically correct,” Father Mukosa said.
He emphasised that governments must prioritize programmes that critically address ecological impacts felt by people, particularly the poorest, the vulnerable, the marginalised and those that live in remote saying each “Christian man and woman, every member of the human family, can act as a thin yet unique and indispensable thread in weaving a network of life that embraces everyone.”
And Father Mukosa says time is running out for repentance and repair to the immense damage caused by compromising the gospel and by not speaking out against ecological sin.
He said the [world should] begin to move towards an era of global recovery and regeneration.
“It is critical that we all continue to look at the strengthening and protecting of biodiversity, not just as a value we hold, but as a responsibility that is vital to our way of life,” he said.
“May we feel challenged to assume, with prayer and commitment, our responsibility for the care of creation,” he concluded.
The Season of Creation begins on 1st September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, ends on 4th October, on the Feast of St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology. St. Francis of Assisi is saint that is loved by many Christian denominations for his love of ecology.
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