12.09.25.- In this Jubilee Year’s Season of Creation, in which we are called to be Pilgrims of Hope, a courageous voice resounds from Brazil. The Commission for Integral Ecology and Mining of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) has recently published a powerful document: the ‘Manifesto for Integral Ecology: a narrative to face the planetary socio-environmental crisis’. Inspired by the encyclical Laudato Si’, this manifesto invites us to remain hopeful in the face of the climate crisis.
A hope forged in a radical commitment to socio-environmental justice. Its pages offer a reading of the eco-social challenges facing Brazilian society from a Christian spiritual perspective. But insofar as these challenges are global, they affect all of humanity. That is why its message is universal and appeals, as Pope Francis did in Laudato Si’, ‘to every person living on this planet’ (LS, 3).
Conceiving of the care of our Common Home as an intrinsic duty of Christian spirituality, however, implies transcending the contemplative gaze to participate actively in the political, economic and social spheres. It is there that decisions affecting our environment and ecosystems are made. As the text states, ‘it is urgent that we ask ourselves, based on our Christian faith, what witness, what posture, and what narrative we defend in light of the acute social and ecological crises before us’ (p.7)..
Despite the difficulty in reaching consensus, the manifesto presents a series of points of convergence to answer this question. First, it uncompromisingly denounces the capitalist and extractivist model that destroys life in the name of profit. It confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: that the environmental crisis and the social crisis are one and the same, and this requires a profound conversion on our part. The ‘liberating Christian narrative’ proposed in the text as a framework for action involves ‘denouncing the oppressors and announcing the alternatives that come from the discarded’ (p.14).
That is where hope lies. In the construction of real alternatives, many of which are already underway. For example, in the defence of community territories, in initiatives that embrace agroecology as a way of life, and in those individuals and groups who practise ‘happy sobriety’ as a form of resistance. By identifying concrete alternatives, such as strengthening local economies and respecting the ancestral wisdom of indigenous peoples, the manifesto opens new horizons for building a more equitable future in harmony with our Common Home.
At Justice in Mining Network, we believe that its call to unmask predatory mining and demand divestment from companies that cause death and devastation is particularly relevant. It challenges us to strengthen our work in accompanying communities, to continue denouncing the consequences of extractivism, and to press for public policies that put life at the centre.
You can read the full manifesto in Spanish and English at the following links:
New release: Pastoral guidelines on the impacts of mining