Vatican City, 1 June 2016 – This morning, before the general audience, the Holy Father received in audience in the study adjacent to the Paul VI Hall thirty representatives from the Jainology Institute of London, who attended a meeting yesterday with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

"I welcome you and I am glad about this meeting, which increases our responsibility in the care of creation, of that gift we have all received – so that we may care for it", said the Pope. "Creation is the mirror of God, the mirror of the Creator, the mirror of nature, of all nature; it is the life of nature and it is a mirror to us too.

"We, all of us, like the Mother Earth, because she has given us life and protects us; I would say, rather, the Sister Earth, who accompanies us on our journey through life. But our task is to care for it as one would a mother or a sister; that is, with responsibility, with tenderness and with peace.

"Thank you for all that you do in this task, and let us remain united in this ideal, in this task, in this work of ensuring that our mother, our sister Earth is protected; in the knowledge that caring and protecting creation, the Earth, means caring for and protecting all humanity", concluded the Holy Father.