Vatican City, Jun 17, 2015 / 09:18 am
Speaking one day before its official release to the public, Pope Francis is asking for people to have an "open heart" when they read his latest encyclical dedicated to the environment.
"Our 'home' is being ruined, and this hurts everyone, especially the poorest among us," the pontiff said at the conclusion of his weekly general audience on June 17.
The Pope's second encyclical will be released June 18. It will deal with creation and the human ecology, examining man's responsibility in caring for the earth.
The document is entitled "Laudato Si" – meaning "Praised be You." It is taken from St. Francis of Assisi's medieval Italian prayer "Canticle of the Sun," which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and "our sister Mother Earth."
"My appeal, therefore, is for responsibility," he said, which is "based on the task which God gave to man in creation: 'to till and protect' the 'garden' in which he has been placed."
"I invite everyone to receive this new document with an open heart, which places itself along the lines of the Church's social doctrine."
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