A Hong Kong cardinal invited the faithful to undergo a profound journey of conversion, which he described as one of the keys to mitigating the climate crisis.
In his reflection for the Season of Creation this year, Cardinal Stephen Chow said everyone must listen to the Holy Spirit, the one “calling us to conversion” and “a lifestyle change.”
“This conversion requires us to leave behind our arrogant desire to exercise dominion over others and nature, to stop viewing them as objects to be manipulated, and to care for all people and all things,” he said.
The Season of Creation in the Catholic Church runs from September 1 to October 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the environment.
Pope Francis has also declared September 1 the annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation since 2015, when he released his encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si.
Cardinal Chow stressed the need for rapid action against the climate crisis by highlighting the environmental challenges being faced by Hong Kong.
“Here in Hong Kong, we are experiencing extreme weather, including extremely hot days, super typhoons, and torrential rains,” he described.
In September 2023, Hong Kong was struck by Super Typhoon Soala, the second most intense tropical cyclone that hit the South China Sea since 1950.
It is also the first Hurricane Signal No. 10 issued since Super Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018.
Around the same time last year, Hong Kong was paralyzed by flash flooding after experiencing the heaviest rainfall since 1884, accumulating more than 150 millimetres (6.2 inches) of rain in just one hour.
Hong Kong was recently hit with another Super Typhoon, Yagi.
Although the stock exchange was suspended and schools were suspended, authorities reported only five people injured and limited overall damage in the city.
Given these ecological hurdles, Cardinal Chow echoed Pope Francis’ message for this year’s Season of Creation to hold on to hope.
“As long as we unite all forces and collaborate with our brothers and sisters around the world to change the present situation, and continue to undergo conversion, there will still be hope for the future. We can bring hope to future generations and all creation,” he said.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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