The Pope urges young people to eat less meat "to save the environment"

Pope Francis during the Angelus prayer this Sunday at the Vatican. VATICAN MEDIA (via REUTERS)

Pope Francis urges young people to consume less meat to "commit to an integral ecology" and "break this self-destructive trend" generated by consumerism.

In a letter addressed this Monday to the participants of the

—meeting in Prague (Czech Republic) from July 11 to 13, 2022 to discuss, among other issues, sustainability—

the Pope has claimed “a dignified and sober life, without luxuries or waste, so that everyone can inhabit the world with dignity.

In that letter, Francisco has also emphasized the environmental impact generated by meat production and the use of non-renewable energy.

“It is urgent to reduce consumption not only of fossil fuels but also of many superfluous things;

and also, in certain areas of the world, it is convenient to consume less meat, this can also help save the environment”.

The defense of the environment was the focus of the second encyclical - apostolic letter addressed to the faithful - that the Pope signed as pontiff in 2015. In it, he was forceful on issues such as pollution and rampant consumerism: "Hundreds of waste are produced million tons of waste per year.

The earth, our house, seems to become more and more an immense deposit of filth”, the encyclical pointed out.

In his nine years of pontificate, Francis has always attacked consumerism, ruthless globalization, economic liberalism, the tyranny of private property over the right to common goods or the control exercised by digital companies over the population and information. .

In fact, his last encyclical, published in 2020, dealt with these issues.

One of the points stated:

“When they say that the modern world reduced poverty, they do so by measuring it with criteria from other times that are not comparable with today's reality.

Because in other times, for example, not having access to electricity was not considered a sign of poverty nor did it generate anguish.

Poverty is always analyzed and understood in the context of the real possibilities of a specific historical moment”.

These issues have also been rescued in this letter to young people.

"Do not be seduced by the sirens who offer you a life of luxury reserved for a small portion of the world: have 'big eyes' to see the rest of humanity, which is not reduced to little Europe," he advised. .

Transform the “old continent” into a “new continent”

Francis has taken the opportunity to encourage young people to "open themselves to welcoming" migrants and reject "short-sighted ideologies that want to show the other, the different, as an enemy."

A statement that clashes with the anti-immigration policies that various far-right parties have supported in recent years.

“Let us not forget that millions of Europeans in the past had to emigrate to other continents in search of the future.

I am also the son of Italians who emigrated to Argentina”, he recalled.

The Bishop of Rome has also encouraged young people to transform "the old continent into a new continent" and to remember the past of their ancestors.

“You young Europeans have an important mission.

If in the past your ancestors went to other continents not always for noble interests, now it is your turn to present a new face of Europe to the world”, he said.

One of the examples that has helped to strengthen the "value of inclusion", Francis underlined, is the Erasmus Project - an initiative that promotes exchanges between students from different European countries -, which "testifies that the meeting between people from different peoples it helps to open the eyes, the mind and the heart”.

Finally, the Pope has expressed a wish: that young people are capable of "generating new visions of the world, of the economy, of politics and of social coexistence" with which all citizens can walk together.

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