Around 40 faith-based organizations are participating in the \u201cPlatform for Divestment in the Mining Industry,\u201d meeting March 19\u201321 in Rome.<\/p>\n
The Vatican on Friday helped launch a campaign encouraging Catholic organizations, bishops\u2019 conferences, and religious communities to divest from the mining sector for the sake of human ecology \u2014 one of several initiatives marking last year\u2019s 10th anniversary of Pope Francis\u2019 encyclical Laudato Si\u2019, which called for greater care toward environmental issues.<\/p>\n
Sister Nina Krapi\u0107, MVZ, in her first press conference since Pope Leo XIV appointed her deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, noted how institutions have responded to environmental crises by incorporating Pope Francis\u2019 teachings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to the reality of environmental crises, around 40 faith-based organizations have come together to launch the \u2018Platform for Divestment in the Mining Industry,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThis initiative promotes ethical finance within the framework of integral ecology and Church documents on technology and responsible investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Fabio Baggio, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said that while the mining industry is necessary to access essential minerals, it has negatively impacted local communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that minerals are necessary for many aspects of contemporary life. However, we also know that too often their extraction has been done without listening to local communities. It is important to listen to the voices of the communities that directly experience the challenges and conflicts due to both legal and illegal mining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Guatemalan Cardinal \u00c1lvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri recounted how he was personally affected by mining in his Diocese of Huehuetenango.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Canadian mining company came to buy land after discovering it had gold and silver. It promised our people jobs, but environmental damages soon began. Destruction of nature, indiscriminate use of water, and use of cyanide,\u201d he said. \u201cWas it legal? Yes. Did it promote the development of these populations? No.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yolanda Flores, an Indigenous leader from Peru, expressed with emotion the need for clergy, religious, and lay faithful to accompany Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur agriculture, and especially our waters, our rivers, our streams, and our high-altitude wetlands are burned and destroyed by mining,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy do these things happen? We want our bishops, our parish priests, not only to dedicate themselves to the sacraments but to be right there with us, guiding us, walking together to build new routes, new paths.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n