A Catholic youth festival at the shrine of Loreto, Italy, was adressed by the Pope. The pope made it clear how important he found the issue of the world's ecological situation, which was the focus of the festival. Around 300,000 young Roman Catholics listened to the Pontiff saying things like " We need a decisive 'yes' to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible".

Source: BBC News - 02/09/07 --> Read the article

Notes from Yunus:

*It is not the first time the pope addresses the public on the issue to urge it to greater environmental awareness. At the end of his holiday in the mountains this year, he held a sermon in which he called for environmental protection.
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*Neither is Benedict XVI the first religious figure with worldwide influence to speak out about the problem. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, and "first among equals" in the Eastern Orthodox Communion, has been a prominent environmentalist ever since his ordination in 1992. It gave him the nickname "Green Patriarch" and in 2002 he was honoured with the Sophie Prize - an annual international environment and development prize - for all his environmental efforts.