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Save the planet before it’s too late, Pope urges

By Philip Pullella Sun Sep 2, 5:47 AM ET

LORETO, Italy (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leading the
Catholic Church’s first ‘eco-friendly’ youth rally, on
Sunday told up to half a million people that world
leaders must make courageous decisions to save the
planet “before it is too late.”

“A decisive ‘yes’ is needed in decisions to safeguard
creation as well as a strong commitment to reverse
tendencies that risk leading to irreversible
situations of degradation,

” the 80-year-old Pope said.

Wearing green vestments, he spoke to a crowd of mostly
young people sprawled over a hillside near the
Adriatic city of Loreto on the day Italy’s Catholic
Church marks it annual Save Creation Day.

More than 300,000 people had slept on blankets and in
tents or prayed during the night. Organizers said they
were joined by some 200,000 more who arrived from
throughout Italy on Sunday.

“New generations will be entrusted with the future of
the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of
development that has not always protected nature’s
delicate equilibriums,” the Pope said, speaking from a
white stage.

In one of his strongest environmental appeals,
Benedict said: “Courageous choices that can re-create
a strong alliance between man and earth must be made
before it is too late.”

The Pope closed the rally with a Sunday morning mass.

It was the first environmentally friendly youth rally,
a break from gatherings that have left tonnes of
garbage.

Participants had backpacks made of recyclable
material, flashlights operated by a crank instead of
batteries, and color-coded trash bags so personal
garbage could be easily recycled. Meals were served on
biodegradable plates.

Tens of thousands of prayer books for Sunday’s mass
were printed on recycled paper and an adequate number
of trees will be planted to compensate for the carbon
produced at the event, many in areas of southern Italy
devastated by recent brushfires.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the
Vatican has become progressively “green,” installing
photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity
and hosting a scientific conference to discuss global
warming and climate change.

Benedict voiced concern about a breakdown of the
traditional family and in his Sunday homily told young
people to “go against the current” and challenge
“seductive” media messages promoting materialism,
consumerism and fleeting pleasures.

Loreto is famous in the Catholic world for the “holy
house of the Madonna,” a small stone structure
purported to be where Mary grew up in the Holy Land
and where she was told by an angel she would give
birth to Jesus although a virgin.