Oldal 18 [18]
1. INTRODUCTION
man and the environment.” He quotes the work of Jozsef Halasy-Nagy,
according to which the spring of the religious worldview is the fear arising
from man's state of being, which only ceases when man reaches the primordial
source of existence, that is, he encounters God. According to Géza Kuminetz’s
approach, Christian ecological-ethical view, “man is both a part of nature,
but somehow he is also above it, and he is morally responsible for the
preservation of nature and for shaping it to the Creator.”!’ This view avoids
the pantheistic way of thinking, which elevates man to the same level as other
creatures, as well as the exploitative view, which is free of the intrinsic value
of nature and sees it as a purely objective reality.
The approach to the protection of creation in the broadest sense means the
protection of life. In contrast to other approaches that protect the environment
and nature, it does not only mean the protection of the natural and built
environment, but the role of humans is key in it. Man, who dominates the
earth, reaps its fruits, and with it, and because of it, is more and more
responsible for it. What is it responsible for? On the one hand, for the
preservation and flourishing of nature, and on the other hand, for passing it
on to future generations.
1.2. The Unfolding of the Creation Protection Approach
in the Social Teaching of the Church
Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum, published in 1891,"* sought to
provide a Christian answer to social questions in connection with the Industrial
Revolution. Although he did not deal with the issue of environmental
protection, it is indirectly of great importance from the point of view of
sustainability, because its key themes were the common good, the purpose of
goods, the responsibility, duty, rights of political and social communities, or
even human nature and human rights.’? Pope Pius XI wrote in his encyclical
Quadragesimo anno™ that all created goods are understood as purely subordinate
2? Géza Kuminetz, Az igaz vildgnéxet... |The True Worldview...], 167; Jozsef Halasy-Nagy, “A
vilagnézet” [“The Worldview”], in Gyula Kornis, 4 mai vildg képe I. Szellemi élet (The Image of
the World of Today I: Intellectual Life] (Budapest: Kirdlyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, 1938), 35-36.
Géza Kuminetz, Teremtésvédelem é emberi jogok — katolikus szemmel. Tanulmányok a keresztény
spiritualitás és teremtésvédelem kérébél [Creation Protection and Human Rights] (Budapest: JEL
Könyvkiadó, 2025), 204.
4 Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (encyclical, 15 May 1891), Acta Sanctae Sedis 23 (1891):
641-70, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_
enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html.
8 Tbid., para. 13.
16 Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (encyclical, 15 May 1931), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 23, no. 6
(1931): 177-285, https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p¬
xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html.
13
16