Today’s Life-Line is an excerpt from:

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS . . . ON THE THEME: ENERGY TRANSITION AND CARE OF OUR COMMON HOUSE

Friday, June 14, 2019

In the face of a climatic emergency, we must take appropriate measures, in order to avoid committing a grave injustice towards the poor and future generations. We must act responsibly well considering the impact of our actions in the short and long term.

In fact, it is the poor who suffer the worst impact of the climate crisis. As the current situation shows, the poor are those who are most vulnerable to hurricanes, drought, floods and other extreme weather events. Therefore, courage is certainly required to respond “to the ever more desperate cry of the earth and its poor” (Address to the participants in the international Conference on the third anniversary of Laudato S,i 6 July 2018). At the same time, future generations are about to inherit a very ruined world. Our children and grandchildren should not have to pay the cost of the irresponsibility of our generation. I apologize but I would like to emphasize this: they, our children, our grandchildren will not have to pay, it is not right for them to pay the cost of our irresponsibility. In fact, as it is becoming increasingly evident, young people demand a change (see Laudato Si, 13). “The future is ours,” the young people shout today, and they are right!