THE EDITORIAL

“If we learn to listen to it, we notice a sort of dissonance in the voice of creation. On the one hand, it is a sweet song that praises our beloved Creator; on the other, it is a bitter cry that complains of our human mistreatment ». Francis writes this in the Message for the celebration of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Day that the diocese of Lodi celebrates this evening (Saturday 10 September, ed) in Miradolo Terme in the presence of the archbishop of Milan, the bishops of Lodi and Pavia and the local authorities, including mayors and local administrators. Francis’ invitation, which we make ours on this special day, is to cultivate a true “ecological spirituality”, “to base our spirituality on the loving awareness of not being separated from other creatures, but of forming with other beings of the universe a stupendous universal communion ». A strong, modern message that goes beyond the boundaries of Catholic sensitivity, taken up several times by the Pontiff, with reference above all to the poorest areas of the world, although richer in raw materials, let us think of Africa and the Amazon, victims of one wild exploitation.

«It is the sister mother earth who cries out – the words of Francis – at the mercy of our consumerist excesses, she groans and begs us to stop our abuses and its destruction. Then, it’s the different creatures who scream. At the mercy of a despotic anthropocentism (…) But it is also the poorest of us who cry out. Exposed to the climate crisis, the poor suffer most severely from the impact of droughts, floods, hurricanes and heat waves which continue to become more intense and frequent ».

The Pope confronts all of us with the duty of responsibility when he affirms that “living the vocation of being custodians of God’s work is an essential part of a virtuous existence, it is not something optional and not even a secondary aspect of the Christian experience. “. Ecological conversion cannot be a fashion, Francesco is not asking for a greenwashing operation, a facade environmentalism, but indicates the need to “convert consumption and production models, as well as lifestyles, into a more respectful relationship in towards creation and the integral human development of all peoples ”.

All of us have the task of the initiative, without passively undergoing the changes but doing our small part, even in terms of raising awareness. Municipalities and their mayors, for example, can adopt courageous choices that go in the direction of eliminating land consumption and introducing strong rewarding elements for those urban or industrial regeneration initiatives. Some public administrators in Emilia Romagna are working on it: the goal is a territorial agreement between the Metropolitan City of Bologna and the Region aimed at blocking the establishment of new huge logistic settlements in the metropolitan area and at the same time favoring mechanical manufacturing and high added value . Just as the mayors can act for the strict regulation of the spreading of sludge in agriculture to avoid that, as judicial inquiries have shown, the Lodi area is also a land of conquest.

Finally, in the civil field, the mayors and their administrations can support building that provides low energy consumption with greater conviction than what has been done up to now: they can do this by inserting rewarding rules and acting on the tax lever. Just want it.

The commitment to the custody of the “common home” is not an optional choice and therefore, recalling the words of Francis, we are all called to get involved. Not only by “converting consumption models” but through the exercise of active citizenship, which goes to reward virtuous public administrators, even in our small contexts, and who implement – or propose – innovative solutions. The world, we ambitiously hope, also changes from the voting booth.

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