An International Theological Commission document sets out a Christian vision of humanity’s relationship with creation.
VATICAN CITY — “Ecology is the result of how the equation of the interaction between cosmology and anthropology is resolved. Therefore, an ecological approach that seeks to get to the root of the issues cannot avoid addressing both of these dimensions.”
That is the premise of the lengthy and complex text by the International Theological Commission, “Caring for Our Common Home – A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Triune God.”
Released Sept. 2 during the Season of Creation, the document examines “a Trinitarian vision of the creation of the cosmos, highlighting the resulting Trinitarian imprint on creation and its repercussions.”
The book also addresses “the foundation and scope of the role of the human being in the Common Home” as well as “a series of guidelines and guiding principles for care of the Common Home and ecological conversion.”
The full text is currently available from the Vatican only in Italian, with the official Vatican News outlet providing an English-language summary.
The text is complex, but summaries at the end of each chapter offer guidance emphasizing the theological meaning of creation. “The ultimate purpose of creation is not exhausted by the usefulness it may have for the human being and for the development of human life,” one summary notes.
Humans “cannot claim the right to indiscriminately subject creation to [their] own purposes, reducing its meaning and value to the merely instrumental usefulness it can provide: This is the temptation of absolute anthropocentrism,” the document says.
The human being is a servant and steward of creation, and “this role of the human being among the other creatures and the fulfillment of God’s plan finds its deepest inspiration in the celebration of the Eucharist: The human being offers creation to God in Christ and, in return, implores God’s blessing in Christ for all things.”
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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