Pope Francis said on Saturday that “the earth is on fire” and asked thousands of young people to question the current model of economic development in order to ensure environmental sustainability, the Efe news agency reported.
Francisco’s appeal was made this Saturday morning at a conference that took place in the Italian city of Assisi, in the center of the country, and that brought together about a thousand young economists and businessmen.
“There are many people, companies and institutions that are making an ecological transformation. We must continue on this path and do more. It is not enough just to put on makeup. We have to question the development model,” said the Pope, emphasizing that “the earth is burning today and it must be today that we must change it”.
The conference, entitled “Francis’s Economy”, started from the Pope’s idea of conducting an inclusive process of dialogue and a transition to a new “fairer” economic model.
After hearing numerous testimonials from some young people, Francis called for unity, stressing that only this “will do great things”, even “change a huge and complex system like the global economy”.
The Vatican head of state also referred to “the world’s inability to protect the planet and peace”, defending the need to transform an “economy that kills” into an economy that “gives life”, and proposed a new vision for the environment and the earth.
“When we talk about ecological transition, it makes no sense to stay within a 20th-century economic paradigm that has stolen natural resources and land,” the Pope said.
“It’s time to move away from fossil fuels, to accelerate the development of zero or positive impact resources”orphan.
In his speech, Francis also defended the need to “improve social relations, especially in the West, where they are becoming “more and more fragile and fragmented due to consumerism”.
He launched the challenge to “put poverty at the heart of a new economy that needs to see the world from the perspective of the most vulnerable”.
Source: DN
