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The Environment

The Church encourages the faithful to become good stewards of the earth, to conserve and protect God’s magnificent creation and the earth’s resources.

Our Catholic Church perspective


In Catholic Social Teaching, the concept of the common good ‘implies that every individual, no matter how high or low, has a duty to share in promoting the welfare of the community as well as a right to benefit from that welfare’. 


Therefore, each of us has a responsibility to play our part in addressing the environmental crisis. What is happening to the earth indicates that we must think beyond local and national interests and define ‘the community’ in global terms, as well as extending this definition to include future generations.


The way we live and the choices we make affect the lives of others, including the poorest people in the world who will be less able to adapt to changes in the environment. Our choices will also affect the lives of the generations who are to follow us. All of us must take responsibility for this crisis and act accordingly.

An Economic Conversion


This renewed emphasis on the environment represents an ‘ecological conversion’ which, in recent decades, has made humanity more sensitive to the catastrophe towards which it has been heading. However, whilst this renewed emphasis is important, we are also conscious that we are drafting this document at a time when there is war in Europe and elsewhere. War is catastrophic for the natural environment and diverts political energies. As Pope Francis noted prophetically in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, published in October 2020, quoting an address to the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations:


‘Since conditions that favour the outbreak of wars are once again increasing, I can only reiterate that war is the negation of all rights and a dramatic assault on the environment. If we want true integral human development for all, we must work tirelessly to avoid war between nations and peoples. To this end, there is a need to ensure the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation and arbitration, as proposed by the Charter of the United Nations, which constitutes truly a fundamental juridical norm.

Damage to the environment will affect the poor most of all, since poor communities inhabit the worst-affected and most vulnerable locations.


 Jesus called on us to read the ‘signs of the times’. If we are to do that with integrity in our current age, we must surely realise that there is no time to delay and that our actions must be decisive. It is in this context that the Department for Social Justice of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is launching this new edition of The Call of Creation which has been significantly revised and updated since the original publication in 2002.

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