Pope on Respecting the Environment

From a recent audience at Castel Gandolfo:

“How important it is, therefore, that the international community and the different governments be able to give the appropriate indications to their own citizens to address in an effective manner the ways of utilizing the environment that turn out to be harmful. The economic and social costs stemming from the use of shared environmental resources, recognized in a transparent way, must be assumed by those who use them, and not by other populations or by future generations. Protection of the environment and the safeguarding of the resources and climate call for all leaders to act jointly, respecting the law and promoting solidarity, above all in the weaker regions of the earth (Cf. “Caritas in Veritate,” 50).”

That would mean the rich countries, especially the USA, which consumes far more than its fair share of the world’s resources.