ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO ENTREPRENEURS PARTICIPATING AT A MEETING
TO MARK THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

Clementine Hall
Saturday, 1st September 2018

Mr President,
Mr Minister,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen

A cordial welcome to all of you and thank you for this meeting.

I am pleased by the fact that you have set out on the path to reflect this weekend, particularly today, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, on the occasion of your “Roman Forum” on the Encyclical Laudato Si’, and also for committing yourselves even more practically in favour of sustainability. I wholeheartedly thank Mr Peter Kurth for his warm words of greeting.

Let us follow Saint Francis as “the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically” (Encyclical Laudato Si’, 10). For Francis, all contact with people and concrete things became an encounter with the Creator. From his faith in God he derived his mission for justice, for peace and respect for creation.

Each one of us too has a responsibility for others and for the future of our planet. Likewise, the economy must serve man, not exploit him and rob him of its resources. Today we are called to avail ourselves of the possibilities that technology places at our disposal, with a proper use of resources, helping in particular the countries most afflicted by poverty and degradation to take the path of renewal and of sustainable and integral development.

My hope is that the men and women of our time, acknowledging they are all sons and daughters of the Father and Creator who is in heaven, may increasingly and ever more concretely contribute to ensure that all may share the earth’s precious resources. I encourage you to continue to make your specific contribution to this aim, and for this I invoke the Lord’s blessing upon you and your work.

Thank you very much, and pray for me!