PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, “EVERY DECISION AFFECTS THE FUTURE”

“Every decision, either personal or collective, affects the future of the planet”. With an invitation to be “responsible”, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, spoke yesterday to the participants in the VIII Symposium of “Religion, Science and Environment” called “Restoring the balance: the great Mississippi river" which is taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Patriarch arrived in New Orleans on October 20th for a 15-day pastoral visit to the United State. Speaking at the symposium, the Patriarch – who has always been very committed to the protection of Creation - made a powerful denunciation on the state of the planet. “We have reached – he said – a crucial time in our history. We have extended our rule over nature to a point where the absolute limits for our survival have been reached”. Deforestation, polluted rivers, desertification. These are just some of the ecological emergencies reported by the Patriarch, “in the delusion of having control over our own fate, as never before”. “Only wisdom may make us understand that Creation is an interdependent, undivided whole”. So, even “the smallest human action, even the smallest change in the natural order caused by a human action, can have devastating long-term consequences on the planet”.

 SIR - oct 22th, 2009