The bishops of the Amazon opened their general assembly with a Mass for the protection of creation.
It was the same Mass that Pope Leo XIV inaugurated on July 9 in Castel Gandolfo, based on Laudato Si'.
POPE LEO XIV
At the beginning of the Mass, we prayed for conversion, for our conversion, and I want to add that we must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home.
Caring for nature does not mean turning it into a God to be worshipped. This is what the Pope told the bishops in a telegram on the occasion of this summit.
“Let no one irresponsibly destroy the natural goods that speak of the goodness and beauty of the Creator, nor, much less, submit to them as a slave or worshiper of nature, since things have been given to achieve our end of praising God.”
From its earliest centuries, the Church condemned pantheistic doctrine. This line of thinking suggests that God and the universe are one and the same. However, Catholic doctrine upholds that God is transcendent and distinct from His creation.
AM
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