To be pro-life means caring for our common home

In his encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis reminds us that “human life is itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement. Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies” (LS 5). This is a clear exhortation for us to celebrate pro-life month by renewing our desire and efforts to care for our common home.

If we truly love life, we need to be always aware of our responsibility to care for God’s creation. We must wake up from our abuse of the environment that puts ourselves in danger of living. Pope Francis observes: “We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters” (LS 2).

May our experience of slowing down during this pandemic be an opportunity to deepen our sincere concern for life. Stopping for a while as we embraced the “new normal” will hopefully lead us to grasp once more the true value of life. How we wish these changes will make us work to make the world a better place to live. “Although change is part of the working of complex systems, the speed with which human activity has developed contrasts with the naturally slow pace of biological evolution…. Change is something desirable, yet it becomes a source of anxiety when it causes harm to the world and to the quality of life of much of humanity” (LS 18).