AMERICA/BRAZIL - "To take charge of reviewing ways and decisions that have excluded and condemned the poor to misery": Bishops of Brazil for Rio +20

Rio de Janeiro (Agenzia Fides) - "The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), expects that the Rio +20 meeting confirms the commitment of the construction of an alternative development model, integral and based on an ethic which includes responsibility for an authentic natural and human ecology, which is based on the Gospel of justice, solidarity and the universal destination of goods, exceeding the individualistic and utilitarian logic that does not submit the economic and technological powers to the ethical criteria (V General Conference of the Latin American and the Caribbean Episcopate - document of Aparecida n. 474c)."
Taking up the document of Aparecida, the Bishops of Brazil wished to make their contribution on the occasion of the Rio +20 Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro.
The message states that already in the Conference of Aparecida, in 2007, the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean had reported the need to "rethink the relationship between man and the environment, because often the preservation of nature is subordinated to economic development ". It is everyone’s duty, especially those guiding the nations, to ensure present and future generations, a common house, for "planet earth", to be intact and not subjected to destruction. This objective can be achieved "with the subordination of economic development to social justice, respect for the individual, of nature and of nations." According to the CNBB everyone, and first of all the rulers of the world, "must take charge with courage and determination, of reviewing ways and decisions that, throughout history, have excluded the poor and condemned them to misery and death."
The Church of Brazil, especially through the Campaign of Fraternity, has constantly drawn the attention on the "destruction of nature caused by a predatory economic development, fueled by a consumerist way of life" that had, among other consequences, deforestation, pollution, water scarcity and climate change. "Those who are suffering the impact of all this are the poor and the excluded" emphasizes the Bishops' document, which affirms: "It is imperative to educate new and ethical relationships with the environment."
The document, signed by the President, by the Vice President and Secretary General of the CNBB, concludes with this exhortation: "Christians in particular, moved by solidarity that generates fellowship and communion, are called to work for the conservation of the environment and to cooperate in building a just society, ecologically sustainable." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 21/6/2012)