A new rite published Thursday by the Vatican will allow priests to celebrate a mass to urge Catholics to take care of the earth, an initiative of the Catholic clergy to fight against climate change.
For centuries, Catholic priests have been holding special masses to pray for countries, giving thanks after an agricultural harvest or asking God to put an end to a natural disaster.
With the new “Mass for the care of creation”, prepared by two Vatican services, priests can pray that Catholics “take care with love” of creation and “learn to live in harmony with all creatures”.
“This mass calls us to be faithful intendants of what God has entrusted to us, not only in our daily choices and our public policies, but also in our prayer, our cult and our way of living in the world,” said Cardinal Michael Czerny, presenting the rite at a press conference in the Vatican.
Recognition of the climate threat
The late Pope Francis was a fervent supporter of the protection of creation. He was the first pope to embrace the scientific consensus on climate change and to urge countries to reduce their carbon emissions, in accordance with the Paris climate agreement of 2015.
“Pope Leo XIV will clearly carry this pastoral and civil concern,” said Bruce Morrill, a Jesuit priest and an expert in the Catholic liturgy at Vanderbilt university in the United States. “This new thematic mass indicates that the Church recognizes the serious threats that climate change of human origin is posing on it,” he added.
The announcement of this new Vatican rite comes two days after the Catholic bishops of Asia, Africa and Latin America called on world governments to do more to fight climate change, by publishing a common call, the first of its kind.
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