Catholic Social Teaching on

Care for Creation and Stewardship of the Earth

The Catholic Church has a well-documented tradition of Care for Creation and Stewardship of the Earth.
This resource includes elements of Catholic teaching that highlight this tradition.
This resource is intended to serve as an introduction on this issue; it is not comprehensive.

Audience with Representatives of the Churches and Ecclesial Communities and of the Different Religions
Pope Francis, March 2013

“The Church is likewise conscious of the responsibility which all of us have for our world, for
the whole of creation, which we must love and protect. There is much that we can do to benefit
the poor, the needy and those who suffer, and to favor justice, promote reconciliation and build
peace.”

Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
and Action on Environment in Light of Catholic Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2005 (no. 466)
Social Teaching, 1991 (no. 2) “Care for the environment represents a challenge for all of hu-
manity. It is a matter of a common and universal duty, that of
“Our mistreatment of the natural world respecting a common good, destined for all, by preventing any-
diminishes our own dignity and sacred- one from using ‘with impunity the different categories of beings,
ness, not only because we are destroying whether living or inanimate—animals, plants, the natural ele-
resources that future generations of hu- ments—simply as one wishes, according to one’s own economic
mans need, but because we are engaging in needs.’ It is a responsibility that must mature on the basis of the
actions that contradict what it means to be global dimension of the present ecological crisis and the conse-
human. Our tradition calls us to protect quent necessity to meet it on a worldwide level, since all beings
the life and dignity of the human person, are interdependent in the universal order established by the Crea-
and it is increasingly clear that this task tor. ‘One must take into account the nature of each being and of
cannot be separated from the care and de- its mutual connection in an ordered system, which is precisely the
fense of all creation.” ‘cosmos’”.

World Environment Day, Pope

Francis, June 2013 World Day of Peace, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 2007
“We are losing the attitude “Alongside the ecology of nature, there exists what can be called a ‘human’
of wonder, contemplation, ecology, which in turn demands a ‘social’ ecology. All this means that humani-
listening to creation. The ty, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between
implications of living in a natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Experience shows
horizontal manner [is that] that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice
we have moved away from versa. It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link be-
God, we no longer read His tween peace with creation and peace among men.
signs.”

Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment in Light of Catholic Social Teaching, 1991 (no. 8)
“Created things belong not to the few, but to the entire human family.”

Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development

3211 4th St. NE ·Washington, DC 20017 ·(202)541-3160 usccb.org/jphd
 The Compendium of the Address to Diplomatic Corps, January 2010
Social Doctrine of the Church Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Pontifical Council for Justice and “[T]his concern and commitment for the environment should be situat-
Peace, 2005 ed within the larger framework of the great challenges now facing man-
“There is a need to break with the kind. If we wish to build true peace, how can we separate, or even set at
logic of mere consumption and odds, the protection of the environment and the protection of human
promote forms of agricultural and life, including the life of the unborn? It is in man’s respect for himself
industrial production that respect that his sense of responsibility for creation is shown.”
the order of creation and satisfy
the basic human needs of all. “How can we forget, for that matter the struggle for access to natural
These attitudes, sustained by a resources is one of the causes of a number of conflicts, not the least in
renewed awareness of the interde- Africa, as well as a continuing threat elsewhere? For this reason too, I
pendence of all the inhabitants of forcefully repeat that to cultivate peace, one must protect creation!”
the earth, will contribute to elimi-
nating the numerous causes of On the Development of Peoples (Populorum Progressio), Pope Paul VI, 1967
ecological disasters as well as “Already on the first page of Sacred Scripture we read these words: ‘Fill the
guaranteeing the ability to re- earth and subdue it’ (Gn 1:28). By these words we are taught that all things
spond quickly when such disas- of the world have been created for man, and that this task has been entrust-
ters strike people and territories. ed to him to enhance their value by the resources of his intellect, and by his
The ecological question must not toil to complete and perfect them for his own use. Now if the earth has
be faced solely because of the been created for the purpose of furnishing individuals either with the ne-
frightening prospects that envi- cessities of a livelihood or the means for progress, it follows that each man
ronmental destruction represents: has the right to get from it what is necessary for him. The Second Ecumen-
rather it must above all become a ical Vatican Council has reminded us of this in these words: ‘God destined
strong motivation for an authen- the earth with all that it contains for the use of all men and nations, in such
tic solidarity of worldwide di- a way that created things in fair share should accrue to all men under the
mensions” (no. 486). leadership of justice with charity as a companion.” (no. 22)

Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate) Global Climate Change: A Plea

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 2009 for Dialogue, Prudence and the
Common Good, 2001
“The protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate obliges all
international leaders to act justly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, “At its core, global climate
respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the change is not about economic
planet.” (no. 50) theory or political platforms,
nor about partisan advantage
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of Economic Justice for All, 1997 (no. 34) or interest group pressures. It
the Church citing St. Cyprian is about the future of God's
Pontifical Council for Justice and
“From the patristic period to the creation and the one human
Peace, 2005 (no. 462)
present, the Church has affirmed family. It is about protecting
“With the progress of science and that misuse of the world’s resources both ‘the human environ-
technology, questions as to their or appropriation of them by a mi- ment’ and the natural envi-
meaning increase and give rise to an nority of the world’s population be- ronment. It is about our hu-
ever greater need to respect the trays the gift of creation since man stewardship of God's
transcendent dimension of the hu- ‘whatever belongs to God belongs creation and our responsibil-
man person and creation itself.” to all.’” ity to those who come after
us.”

Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development

3211 4th St. NE ·Washington, DC 20017 ·(202)541-3160 usccb.org/jphd