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VATICAN UPDATE FROM CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS FOR JANUARY 17, 2001
Copyright 2001 Domus Enterprises

 

Pope Speaks on Ecology, Mad-Cow Disease

VATICAN, Jan. 17, 01 (CWNews.com) -- In his weekly audience on Wednesday, Pope John Paul II alluded to mad-cow disease as he warned against the danger of "major ecological catastrophe." With Italian news headlines dominated by the discovery of the nation's first case of mad-cow disease, the Pope offered his sympathy for the "honest farmers" who might face "great difficulties" because of the disease. The Pope's main theme was the need to "safeguard the habitat" and the "human ecology" from environmental dangers. The greatest danger of ecological disaster, he said, can ultimately be traced to "man's sin." This was the Pontiff's third reference to environmental issues in the course of 10 days. In apostolic letter Novo Millenio Ineunte, closing the Jubilee year, he cautioned against environmental disasters. He returned to the same theme on January 13 in his discourse to the ambassadors of the Vatican diplomatic corps.

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