Oldal 41 [41]
OCR
1.6. Our Responsibility to Future Generations “Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.””” “The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently, we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. The Portuguese bishops have called upon us to acknowledge this obligation of justice: “The environment is part of a logic of receptivity. It is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the next’.* An integral ecology is marked by this broader vision.” Pope Francis continues his train of thought the following: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? This question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal.””* As a follow-up to Laudato Si’ (2015), Laudate Deum (2023), an apostolic exhortation, reinforces the call for ecological conversion and urgent action to mitigate climate change, which disproportionately affects future generations and vulnerable populations. It continues the trajectory of prioritizing sustainable models and intergenerational responsibility. “If humanity today succeeds in combining the new scientific capacities with a strong ethical dimension, it will certainly be able to promote the environment as a home and a resource for man and for all men, and will be able to eliminate the causes of pollution and to guarantee adequate conditions of hygiene and health for small groups as well as for vast human settlements. Technology that pollutes can also cleanse, production that amasses can also distribute justly, on condition that Francis: 2015. Laudato si’, 887-945. *8 Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, Pastoral Letter Responsabilidade Solidéria pelo Bem Comum (15 September 2003), 20. % Francis: 2015. Laudato si’, 887-945, e.g. § 160. 39
