CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI again reiterated his plea that an alliance be re-created between humanity and the environment, urging that cooperation intensity in the promotion of the common good.
The Pope made his appeal today, noting the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, adopted in that Canadian city on Sept. 16, 1987.
Addressing the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo for the praying of the Angelus, the Holy Father spoke about the anniversary of the document on "the substances that deplete the ozone layer, causing grave damage for human beings and the ecosystem."
He said: "In the last two decades, thanks to exemplary collaboration between politicians, scientists and economists within the international community, important results have been obtained with positive repercussions on present and future generations.
"I desire that, on the part of everyone, cooperation intensify to the end of promoting the common good, development, and the safeguarding of creation, returning to the alliance between man and the environment, which must be a mirror of God the Creator, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying."
The Montreal Protocol, following the Vienna Convention of 1985, established the objectives and measures for the reduction of the production and use of substances that threaten the ozone layer.
It also established the timeframe within which the signatories commit themselves to contain the production levels of dangerous substances, disciplining commercial exchange, the communication of monitoring data, research activity, exchange of information, and technological assistance.
ZE07091609 - 2007-09-16