1st September: World Christian Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

At his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, 26 August, 2015, Pope Francis declared that September 1st, the Roman Church will mark the first World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.  In his recent encyclical Laudato si’ (On the Care of Our Common Home) he drew attention to the urgent need for reconciliation with creation. Pope Francis says “The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation will offer individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live”.

Pope Francis’ decision follows the practice instituted in 1991 by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which was subsequently adopted by all the Orthodox Churches.The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the Christian church leader that has won greatest recognition for his leadership and initiatives in confronting the theological, ethical and practical imperative of environmental issues in our time as the. He has long placed the environment at the head of his church’s agenda, earning him numerous awards and the title ‘Green Patriarch’. The 1st September also marks the beginning of the liturgical year in the Orthodox Churches.