VATICAN - Water today is “a good that must be especially protected through clear national and international policies and used according to sensible criteria of solidarity and responsibility”: Pope’s Message for the “Day of the Holy See” at the Expo in Zaragoza

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “We have to be aware that, regrettably, water - an essential and indispensable good that the Lord has given us to maintain and develop life -, because of incursions and pressures from various social factors, is today considered a good that must be especially protected through clear national and international policies and used according to sensible criteria of solidarity and responsibility.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI in his Message sent to Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, representative of the Holy See for the "Day of the Holy See" at the International Expo of Zaragoza (Spain), being held June 14 to September 14, 2008 with the theme “Water and Sustainable Development.”
“The use of water - which is seen as a universal and inalienable right - is related to the growing and urgent needs of those living in poverty,” the Holy Father said, highlighting the fact that the right to water “is it is "a right that is based on the dignity of the human person." It is "from this perspective that positions of those who consider and treat water only as an economic good must be carefully examined. Its use must be rational and in solidarity, fruit of a balanced synergy between the public and private sector.”
The Holy Father also asked that the religious meanings that believers, especially Christians, have developed from water, “giving it great value as a precious immaterial good that always enriches human life on this earth.” The message quotes Sacred Scripture, where water is considered a symbol of purification and life, and highlights that “the full recovery of this spiritual dimension is ensured and presupposed for a proper approach to the ethical, political, and economic problems that affect the complex management of water on the part of all concerned, as well as in the national and international spheres.”
The Pope’s message concludes with his hope that the “Expo in Zaragoza may inspire fitting reflection in all those who visit it and move the competent authorities to make appropriate decisions in favor of a good that is so essential to human life on earth.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 16/7/2008)