Hope for a wounded Amazon: “The Pope knows where it hurts us”
In the communities of the Peruvian Amazon, anticipation is growing over Pope Leo's arrival in the country that shaped his missionary journey. The ...
about 2 months ago
The article, published on 14 August 2026, reports that Pope Leo XIV expressed empathy for the suffering of the Amazon region, suggesting his awareness of the challenges faced by its peoples and ecosystems 1
The headline highlights the Pope’s statement that “the Pope knows where it hurts us,” indicating a message of solidarity and hope directed toward the wounded Amazon.
While the article’s full text is not provided, the title implies a focus on environmental and social issues affecting the Amazon, and the Pope’s role in drawing attention to these concerns.*
Assess Catholic teachings on environmental stewardship and justice
Catholic teaching presents environmental stewardship as a moral responsibility rooted in creation, human dignity, the common good, and solidarity with the poor and future generations. It rejects both the exploitation of nature as though humans were its absolute owners and an ideology that treats human beings as merely one species among others. The Catholic position is best described as integral ecology: care for the natural world and care for human beings belong together.
The foundation is theological. God is the Creator, and the world has an intelligible order and goodness independent of human convenience. The Catechism teaches that God willed the “diversity,” “particular goodness,” and “interdependence” of creatures, while material creation is ordered toward the good of humanity and, through humanity, toward the glory of God.
Human dominion therefore means stewardship, not arbitrary ownership. Pope Benedict XVI states that creation is entrusted to human responsibility, but that humanity cannot regard itself as “creation’s absolute master.” The proper task is to protect and cultivate the earth, enjoy its fruits responsibly, and ensure that people can live with dignity both now and in the future.
This corrects a distorted interpretation of biblical dominion. Pope Leo XIV explains that the biblical command to “till and keep” the garden includes cultivating, working, caring, protecting, overseeing, and preserving. Scripture gives no justification for “tyranny over creation.”
Catholic teaching holds two truths together:
The Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church expresses this balance clearly: creation serves humanity, but it also possesses value “in and of itself”; responsible interaction with nature includes protecting it and preserving its resources. Respect for creation is ultimately a way of giving glory to God.
Consequently, the Church does not teach that every human alteration of nature is wrong. Agriculture, industry, technology, and scientific development can serve human flourishing. The moral question is whether such activity respects the order of creation, human dignity, the limits of resources, and the rights of others. Pope Benedict describes humanity’s task as one involving “hard work and creativity,” not passive withdrawal from the world.
At the same time, the Church rejects the assumption that dominion gives humanity unlimited permission to despoil the earth. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales specifically criticizes the idea that human beings have an “unlimited freedom” to destroy the natural environment for their own purposes.
Environmental harm is not only a matter of scenery, conservation, or personal lifestyle. It affects food, water, health, housing, employment, migration, peace, and the survival of communities. For this reason, the Church treats environmental care as part of the common good—the social conditions that allow individuals and communities to flourish.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church calls care for the environment a “common and universal duty.” No one may use living or nonliving beings with impunity simply according to private economic needs. Because ecosystems are interdependent, environmental responsibility necessarily has a global dimension.
This is why environmental justice is inseparable from concern for the poor. Pope Francis emphasizes that Saint Francis of Assisi united concern for nature with justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace. Pope Leo XIV likewise states that the most vulnerable are often the first to suffer from climate change, deforestation, and pollution, making care for creation an expression of faith, humanity, and solidarity.
The justice issue has several dimensions:
Resources are intended for the good of all, not for the exclusive benefit of powerful individuals, companies, or nations. The Compendium teaches that the goods of the earth must be used wisely and shared equitably; hoarding resources through individual or collective greed contradicts the order of creation.
This principle challenges economic systems in which communities bear pollution, displacement, or health risks while others receive the profits. Pope Leo XIV has criticized extractive development that produces social and environmental disasters and discriminates against the excluded.
Environmental problems cross national borders. Pollution, climate disruption, deforestation, and resource depletion cannot be addressed adequately by isolated action. The Compendium therefore calls for international cooperation and coordinated use of the earth’s resources.
Pope Benedict similarly argues that environmental and climate protection requires international leaders to act together, with special concern for weaker regions of the world. He insists that the economic and social costs of consuming shared resources should be transparently recognized and borne by those responsible rather than shifted onto poorer peoples or future generations.
The present generation has obligations to those who will come after it. The Catechism teaches that dominion over natural resources cannot be separated from moral obligations toward future generations.
The Compendium describes the environment as part of the common heritage of humanity. Because the present generation has inherited the earth from those before it and benefited from their work, it must not refuse responsibility for those who will follow.
Pope Francis deepens this point by arguing that the question is not simply what physical environment will be left behind, but what kind of world—with what values, social arrangements, and understanding of human dignity—will be inherited. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is therefore connected to the meaning of human life and responsibility.
Catholic teaching does not identify economic growth with authentic progress. Development must be measured by its effects on the whole person and the whole community, including work, health, equality, peace, and the environment.
The Compendium teaches that development programs must respect nature’s integrity and cycles because resources are limited and some are nonrenewable. Economic activity should include environmental costs in its true accounting and reconcile development with protection of the environment.
It also warns that environmental protection cannot be left entirely to market forces or reduced to financial cost-benefit calculations. An economy that respects the environment cannot make profit maximization its sole objective.
Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas applies this critique to contemporary economic measurement. It calls for development indicators that supplement GDP by considering human dignity, inequality, shared prosperity, the dignity of work, and environmental protection.
This does not imply opposition to markets or private enterprise as such. Rather, it means that economic institutions require ethical direction, law, social responsibility, and concern for the universal common good.
Environmental responsibility belongs to individuals, businesses, civil society, and governments. The Compendium states that environmental responsibility must have juridical expression through effective rules, monitoring, pollution controls, and protection from toxic wastes.
However, law alone is insufficient. Legal measures must be accompanied by a change in mentality and lifestyle. This reflects the Catholic principle that social structures and personal virtue are complementary. Good laws are needed to restrain harmful practices, but citizens and economic actors must also develop temperance, responsibility, and solidarity.
The Church’s teaching establishes moral principles rather than prescribing one universally mandatory policy instrument. It supports serious scientific, political, and juridical evaluation of environmental problems. The Compendium specifically calls for climate-related questions to be continually monitored at scientific, political, legal, national, and international levels. Thus, Catholics may legitimately disagree about particular regulations, energy policies, taxation schemes, or technological solutions, provided that their judgments respect the principles of truth, prudence, justice, and care for the vulnerable.
Environmental stewardship is not limited to government policy. Pope Francis describes the opposite mentality as a “culture of waste,” in which people and material goods are treated as disposable and profit becomes more important than human dignity. He connects environmental exploitation with the abandonment of the poor and the reduction of human beings to instruments of consumption.
Catholic responsibility therefore includes concrete habits:
Pope Leo XIV emphasizes that ecological responsibility requires the mind, heart, and hands: knowledge, moral conversion, new habits, community practices, and virtuous action. He identifies avoiding waste, choosing responsibly, and defending the common good as small but meaningful forms of moral formation.
These actions should not be understood as attempts to “save” the world apart from God. They are expressions of gratitude, justice, temperance, and love of neighbor. Creation is received as gift, and responsible care becomes a form of worship and service.
Catholic environmental teaching can be summarized through several principles:
The Catholic position is therefore neither unrestricted economic exploitation nor an anti-human rejection of development. It is a call to integral human development within the limits and order of creation, with particular attention to those who suffer first and most severely from environmental degradation. Environmental stewardship is not an optional concern added to Christian discipleship; it is a practical expression of love of God, love of neighbor, justice, and responsibility for the common home.