Archbishop Christophe El Kassis has underscored that care for creation and care for the human person are interconnected dimensions of our common and shared responsibility and called for a careful and wise use of technological instruments.
Participating in a debate at the UN General Assembly on sustainable development on 12 October, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations explained that “Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
3 pillars: social, economic, environmental
While its overarching aim is the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimension, he said, it seeks to balance three interconnected pillars: social, economic and environmental.
Highlighting the fact that the challenges presented in achieving sustainable development are interrelated, in the same way “the efforts to pursue it cannot be separated or siloed. Nor can they be separated from humanity’s cultural, moral and spiritual dimensions.”
Climate crisis and sustainable development
Regarding the climate crisis, the archbishop noted that “While climate change profoundly impacts the natural world around us, it also impacts the lives of millions of people, their communities, the livelihoods of families and the prospects of generations.”
Thus, he explained, the consequences of climate change “extend far beyond the environmental dimension alone, affecting food security, health, migration, livelihoods, culture and, sometimes leading to conflict.”
Indeed, he added quoting Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas, “the climate and environmental crisis is not an isolated issue, but rather the ecological aspect of the contemporary socio-economic crisis.”
The Permanent Observer thus reiterated that “this understanding lies at the heart of integral ecology, which is the recognition that care for creation is inseparable from care for spiritual, moral and cultural dimensions of the human person.”
Acknowledging the solutions and tools that can play an important role in tackling issues connected to climate change, Archbishop El Kassis said they cannot address the deeper social, moral and cultural factors that contribute to the crisis.
As Pope Leo XIV affirms, he concluded, “caring for creation becomes an expression of humanity and solidarity,” and he called on the international community “to embrace this integral perspective, recognizing that care for creation and care for the human person are not competing priorities, but interconnected dimensions of the common and shared responsibility.”
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