Pope Francis has declared September 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

« The annual World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvellous works that He has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live. »
 
Coinciding with the celebration of the Orthodox Church, Pope Francis hopes that:
« The celebration of the Day on the same date as the Orthodox Church will be a valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our orthodox brothers.   We live in a time where all Christians are faced with identical and important challenges and we must give common replies to these in order to appear more credible and effective.  Therefore it is my hope that this Day can involve, in some way, other Churches and ecclesial Communities and be celebrated in union with the initiatives that the World Council of Churches is promoting on this issue. »

Source: Text & Image: Religious of the Sacred heart of Jesus    Illustration: « Iris » by Agnes Babas Fooks