Pope prays for Mauritus, ahead of World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

By Vatican News

"From this date, until 4 October, we will celebrate, along with our fellow Christians of different Churches and traditions, the 'Jubilee for the Earth'." 

Pope Francis then went on to greet the "various movements" across the world that will be honouring this day. He mentioned specifically "the concert that will take place in the Cathedral of Port Louis, capital city of Mauritius where, unfortunately, an environmental disaster has recently taken place".

Tens of thousands of people protested Saturday in Mauritius over the government’s response to an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship and the discovery of dozens of dead dolphins in recent days. Protesters marched peacefully through the capital, Port Louis, a month after the ship struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island nation.

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios proclaimed September 1 as Creation Day for the Orthodox in 1989, followed by other Christian European Churches in 2001, and by Pope Francis in 2015.

In 2018, for the first time, the prayer service for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation that took place in Assisi was ecumenical in nature.