Can mankind by using its free will destroy our planet completely?
H.E. Cardinal Peter Turkson: " that level of destruction
will not be ultimate and definite because God is all powerful."
Today at the Geneva International Congress Center an expert panel discussed Pope Francis' encyclical 'Laudato Si' and how to apply Pope Francis' suggestions.
The Church cannot remain indifferent to situations like hunger in the world and indebtedness, which jeopardize the salvation of souls, and this is why she calls for a reform of the financial and economic systems, so that they will be put at the service of the human person. Pope John Paul II's calls along these lines are countless. Already, in his first encyclical lLetter (Redemptor Hominis, March 4, 1979), the Holy Father spoke of “the indispensable transformations of the structures of economic life... of poverty amidst plenty that brings into question the financial and monetary mechanisms... man cannot become the slave of economic systems.” And for now, we will add only this other quote from the Pope:
“Again, I want to tackle a very delicate and painful issue. I mean the torment of the representatives of several countries, who no longer know how to face the fearful problem of indebtedness. A structural reform of the world financial system is, without doubt, one of the initiatives that seem the most urgent and necessary.” (Message of the Pope to the 6th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, September 26, 1985.)
The Roman Catholic Church therefore presents the moral principles on which any financial or economic system must be judged. And so that these principles may be applied in a practical way, the Church calls on the lay faithful — whose proper role, according to the Second Vatican Council, is precisely to renew the temporal order and bring it in order with God's plan — to work for concrete solutions and the establishment of an economic system that conforms to the teachings of the Church's social doctrine.
We interviewed Cardinal Turkson after the conference.
Interview by Christophe Laurent (Pax Press Agency) ... Excerpts will be part of our television report for EWTN's 'Vaticano' next week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqR0Ks-3zaI
Laudato Si conference at the International Conference Center, Geneva, Friday January 16th. For Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who retires at the end of January, this conference was one of his final assignments as Apostolic Nuncio in Geneva for over 13 years.
The Permanent Missions to the U.N. Geneva of the Holy See, of Bosnia and Herzogovena, Nigeria, the Philippines, San Marino, and the Order of Malta co-sponsored the event.
Everyone agreed that Laudato Si had played a critical factor in encouraging civil society participation and activism, and also had united Christians and other religions at an unprecedented level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C416isd0ZGA
The Debt Money System (wonderfully explained by a twelve year old girl from Canada)
by Victoria Grant
