Pope Francis urges people to be more responsible for looking after Earth

During his Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square on June 21, Pope Francis claimed that the coronavirus pandemic has made a lot of individuals re-evaluate their relationship with the environment. According to reports, due to COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown of several countries in an attempt to control; its spread, pollution levels across those regions have come down.

'People must be responsible'

As per reports, Pope Francis called Earth the common home of all humanity and added that during this period of the lockdown with the absence of traffic ad noise and large crowds, the true beauty of certain regions has become clear once again. With many nations easing restrictions and moving towards re-opening, Pope Francis urges people to be more responsible with their actions in the future.

According to reports, the Vatican is currently celebrating the fifth anniversary of “Laudato Si” (Praised Be), an initiative intended to protect the environment. It also released a 225-page document on June 18 that stated that Catholics should move away from fossil fuels and prevent damage to the environment.

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With coronavirus contagion and Black Lives Matter protests across the globe, 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg has acknowledged that the world is at the “social tipping point”. In an exclusive interview with BBC, Thunberg also said that the world should learn from the global health crisis and treat the climate crisis with the same level of ‘urgency’ as the COVID-19 pandemic. Since originating from China in December 2019, the novel coronavirus has swept most parts of the world and has now infected over 8.5 million people in total. The 17-year-old noted that the world leaders are taking precautionary measures to curb the drastic spread of COVID-19 “with necessary force”.

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Earlier this month, Greta Thunberg had said that America's struggle against racial discrimination after the death of George Floyd is part of the fight against climate change and social justice that unites everyone together. In an interview with an international media outlet, Thunberg said that the world needs to stand ‘united’ and remember that the fight for social justice, environmental justice, racial justice and climate justice is the same fight.

(Image Credit: AP)