At the June 18 launch of the highly-anticipated encyclical Laudato Si (The Care for Our Common Home), Cardinal Peter Turkson acknowledged a critique that the Church is taking sides on scientifically still-debatable topics such as global warming, pollution, species extinction and global inequality\u2019s impact on natural resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim of the encyclical is not to intervene in this debate, which is the responsibility of scientists, and even less to establish exactly in which ways the climate changes are a consequence of human action\u201d\u009d he said. Instead, the goal of the document is to promote the well-being of all creation and \u201cto develop an integral ecology, which in its diverse dimensions comprehends \u201d\u02dcour unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings,\u201d\u009d the cardinal said, quoting the encyclical.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience is the best tool by which we can listen to the cry of the earth,\u201d\u009d Cardinal Turkson said, noting that regardless of the various positions, studies tells us that \u201ctoday the earth, our sister, mistreated and abused.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n