Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, in a video message on Friday, told participants at the screening of a documentary film about the importance of the interdependent human family during the “Cinema for Creation” festival, which started on February 9.
The festival’s theme is "Nourished by Beauty and Love: Forces that Save the World," while the documentary film is titled "Together Alone: The Surprise of Francis,” directed by Gualtiero Peirce.
Parolin said that given the historical context, which is characterized by “conflicts, selfishness, indifference, and an inability to listen to others,” the act of collaborating becomes even more important.
He said Pope Francis has often stressed interconnectivity, which makes people aware of being part of a single, interdependent human family.
He added that awareness “demands a transformation in international policies as well as in our daily behaviors, and these must be oriented towards the careful stewardship of our common home.”
The common home refers to the environment and to responsibilities towards our neighbor and God, said the Cardinal.
“Looking towards Holy Week, our journey of conversion must be nourished through the two themes that are at the center of your initiative: beauty and love,” he said.
Love creates bonds and leads the person out of the self and it is important to recognize the beauty that surrounds us and to strengthen that covenant between human beings and the environment, said the Cardinal.
He said that appreciating beauty fosters gratitude for Creation and that we should pass this on to those who follow us.
The sense of gratitude helps overcome the “culture of waste currently predominant in our society to a culture of care as an expression of our comprehensive ecological conversion,” said Cardinal Parolin.
He emphasized that the Holy Father distinguishes ecological conversion with the modifier word 'integral', which demands a different way of thinking and seeing.
“It is not enough for an individual to take action, but individual conversion must indeed be accompanied by communal conversion, implementing dialogue at both local and international levels that promotes real human, integral, and sustainable development and fosters education for integral ecology capable of adopting a new perspective and valuing the driving force of beauty and love,” said the Cardinal.
He ended his message by congratulating the initiators of the event. “Proceed joyfully along this path of integral ecological conversion,” Cardinal Parolin told them. - MTV
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