Previous Article
Next Article
“We are in a critical moment of human history. As the apostle James tells us, Faith without works is dead. What we profess as beliefs call for genuine action. Martin Luther King said: “Some of us are guilty and all of us are responsible”. Silence and a failure to act can be considered collusion. The Encyclical Laudato Si”calls us to action, not simply to more discussions. It is time to act. We need to act now, and act collaboratively to help the world overcome an ecological holocaust”.
Cardinal Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, expressed these thoughts in a recent
reflection on certain excerpts from Laudato
Si”and the political situation in Myanmar.
One of the Church”s roles is to care for the least and most vulnerable on the planet: “The
Church is a protector of human dignity; it is a community that must speak up for the weak and defenseless. Speaking of inconvenient truths is part of what it means to be Church today. The encyclical Laudato is a visionary call to a new world war, one that battles the greed of multinationals, governments and
the wealthy minority who are destroying God”s creation in order to gain money
and power. Christianity, he emphasized, must not fear facing the world”s authorities. We must act now, together with all people of good will, with all of society, together with different faiths. We must develop a theology of
“environmental sins” and one of the “sacraments of nature”: water, earth, air
and fire, the most precious gifts of the Creator. The Church, concluded the cardinal, must develop a coalition to combat the evil undercurrents of money and power. This is our moral obligation. The earth is on loan to us and we owe at least this much to international justice.”
