Believers must care for the poor and creation, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If people do not see themselves as "caretakers of the garden of creation, we end up becoming its destroyers," Pope Leo XIV said.

As the U.N. Climate Conference continued in Brazil, the pope dedicated his weekly general audience talk Nov. 19 to explaining how Jesus' death and resurrection should lead Christians to "a spirituality of integral ecology," which seeks the good of the human person and the planet.

Believing in Christ does not isolate Christians from the world and its concerns, the pope said, but rather it motivates them to share with others how faith generates hope and action, including the kind of conversion needed to provide greater care for the poor and for the earth.

Without concrete commitments, he said, "the words of faith have no hold on reality, and the words of science remain outside the heart." 

"If we allow it, Christ's salvific act can transform all our relationships: with God, with other people and with creation," Pope Leo said in his English-language remarks.

Christians "must allow the seed of Christian hope to bear fruit, convert our hearts and influence the ways we respond to the issues that we face," including the pressing issue of climate change and, particularly, its impact on the world's poorest people.

"As followers of Jesus," he said, "we are called to promote lifestyles and policies that focus on the protection of human dignity and of all of creation."

"Christian hope responds to the demands of our time regarding the climate and the environment," he told Portuguese speakers.

The audience began with the reading of the Gospel of John's account of Mary Magdalene weeping near Jesus' tomb, not recognizing the risen Lord, but thinking he was the gardener. 

In some ways, Jesus is the gardener, the pope said. "The lost paradise is rediscovered by Jesus," who, like a seed buried in the ground, rises again and bears fruit.

Belief in the Resurrection and hope for the coming of God's kingdom "are the foundations for an ecological spirituality and conversion that change history and involve public commitment, placing Christians on the same side as so many people -- including many young people -- who have heard and felt resonate in their hearts the divine call to care for the poor and for the earth."

Pope Leo encouraged people at the audience to "invoke the Spirit to help us care, with the same faith, for our common home and for our hearts." 

Before his audience, the pope met privately with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who handed him a formal invitation to visit Chicago and several cans of "Da Pope" beer, produced by Burning Bush Brewery.

"We'll put that in the fridge," the pope is heard saying on a short video released by Vatican Media.

The governor told NBC 5 Chicago television that he and Pope Leo spoke about immigration. "He believes strongly that it is our obligation as human beings to stand up for one another and especially because immigrants often are the most vulnerable," Pritzker said.