Pope Benedict XVI has marked the celebration of the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace on New Year’s Day with a message, entitled ‘If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.’

This year’s message is essentially an elaboration of four paragraphs on the environment included in his encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ (‘Charity in Truth’), published in early July 2009, which focused on development and the need to share natural resources equitably, whilst not exploiting those found in poor countries, as well as the connection between environmental protection and peace.

In the preparation of the 2010 message, following the July encyclical and in the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, it would not have been lost on the Vatican that the world was at something of a crossroads with regard to the climate change debate and the need for decisive, collective action. Indeed, the message was released by the Vatican as world leaders were arriving in Copenhagen for their anti-climactic summit.

Thus, in focusing his message on the link between protecting the environment and working for peace, the Pope, apart from stressing the religious aspect – “The environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people… seeing creation as God’s gift to humanity helps us understand our vocation and worth as human beings” – also seeks to expound on a theme close to his heart and applicable to all the Earth’s inhabitants, regardless of religious belief: environmental protection as the safeguarding of creation, that is, all of nature.

Voicing the concerns of the Catholic Church, from its perspective as an “expert in humanity,” Pope Benedict highlights the specific problems of “climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions.” In so doing, he identifies the associated phenomena of forced displacement, environmental refugees and conflicts over access to natural resources, and warns of the resulting threats to the exercise of basic human rights – “such as the right to life, food, health and development” – and ultimately to peace.

Paragraph 5 of the 14-paragraph document bears quoting in full, because of its centrality to the papal message and its relevance to the present state of the world:

“It should be evident that the ecological crisis cannot be viewed in isolation from other related questions, since it is closely linked to the notion of development itself and our understanding of man in his relationship to others and to the rest of creation. Prudence would thus dictate a profound, long-term review of our model of development, one which would take into consideration the meaning of the economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and misapplications. The ecological health of the planet calls for this, but it is also demanded by the cultural and moral crisis of humanity whose symptoms have for some time been evident in every part of the world. Humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all. Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together. Specifically, they call for a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity, with new rules and forms of engagement, one which focuses confidently and courageously on strategies that actually work, while decisively rejecting those that have failed. Only in this way can the current crisis become an opportunity for discernment and new strategic planning.”

The Pope is clearly pointing the way forward for us all. The “present ecological crisis” requires international solidarity and action to resolve it. The industrialized countries should recognize their “historical responsibility,” whilst developing nations “are not exempt from their own responsibilities.” In addition, to put it somewhat less elegantly than the Pope, we owe it to future generations to clean up our act.

Unfortunately, the leaders gathered in Copenhagen with the power to effect real and lasting change seemed not to be paying heed to his entreaties or to those of the representatives of the marginalized millions who are the poorest and most threatened by the effects of climate change.

Nevertheless, the Pope’s message remains both topical and timely. For if the world as a whole, and, more specifically, the small, developing countries, particularly those of our region, are ever to extricate themselves from the state of almost perpetual crisis in which they currently find themselves, then collective action, transcending narrow self-interest and based on the simple and permanent virtues of truth, mutual respect, international solidarity, responsible stewardship of our natural environment, and concern for humanity as a whole, can be the only path towards “the prospect of a brighter future for all.”