In a television interview on Sunday, Pope Francis warned that dumping plastic in waterways is “criminal” and must be stopped if humanity is to rescue the earth for future generations.
In the hour-long interview on RAI’s Channel 3, Francis also restated some of his papacy’s core themes, including denouncing excessive weapons expenditure, defending the rights of refugees, and criticizing conservatives in the Church for their ideological rigidity.
Francis, who has made environmental protection a priority during his pontificate, recalled how Italian fisherman approached him one year and informed him they had discovered hundreds of tons of trash in the Adriatic Sea. The next time he saw them, they informed him that they had discovered twice as much and that they had taken it upon themselves to clean up some of it.
“Throwing plastic into the sea is criminal. It kills biodiversity, it kills the earth, it kills everything,” he said.”
“Looking after creation is an education (process) in which we must engage,” he said, citing a song by Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos in which a boy asks his father why “the river no longer sings” and the father responds that “we finished it off”.
Reuters
