Days before the release of his landmark encyclical letter, Pope Francis urged all citizens of the world to act as "stewards of creation" regardless of creed, race, and religion.
After leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer held in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, the Pope called on people worldwide to pay more attention not only to environmental destruction but also to environmental recovery.
"Let us pray that everyone can receive its message and grow in responsibility toward the common home that God has entrusted to us," Pope Francis said, according to the Catholic News Agency.
"This encyclical is addressed to all," the Catholic Church leader added, reflecting on the parable of the seeds planted on the ground written in Sunday's Gospel.
The Pope explained that it has always been "God who makes his kingdom grow; only He can make it take root and mature."
"God has entrusted his Word to our land, that is, to each of us with our concrete humanity. We are able to be fruitful because the Word of God is a creative word that leads to a full harvest," the Pope said.
Pope Francis is expected to call for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent catastrophic climate change and growing inequality around the world in an unprecedented encyclical letter about the care of creation on Thursday.
The Pontiff, in the letter titled "Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home," will argue that humanity's exploitation of the planet's resources has crossed the Earth's natural boundaries.
According to Reuters, Pope Francis will also express support to scientific consensus that humans may have indeed caused climate change, which can eventually lead to the ruin of mankind should it continue without a revolution in the hearts and minds of people.
The anticipated encyclical is the latest in a string of actions from the Vatican to show support for tackling environmental issues after it hosted a UN delegation which discussed the issue in April.
"I don't know if it is all [man's fault], but the majority is, for the most part. It is man who continuously slaps down nature," he said in January. "I think man has gone too far... thank God that today there are voices that are speaking out about this," the Pontiff said.
Environmentalists are optimistic that the Pope's encyclical letter will inspire some of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to pressure officials to adopt policies that will address climate change and other environmental issues, the Guardian said.
