On his speech at the event, convened by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, the Supreme Pontiff noted that the meeting “sends a message to governments and international organizations to recognize and respect the wealth of diversity within the great human family.”

“In the fabric of humanity there are different cultures, traditions, spiritualities, languages that need to be protected, because their loss would constitute an impoverishment of knowledge, identity and memory for all of us,” Francis stated, which was released by the Vatican press office.

In that regard, it is necessary that scientific research projects and investments be oriented “towards the promotion of human fraternity, justice and peace, so that resources can be allocated in a coordinated way to respond to the urgent challenges that affect the common home and the family of peoples.”

The Bishop of Rome warned that to meet this goal, a conversion is required, as well as an alternative vision to the one that currently pushes the world towards growing conflicts and to learn, with all such wealth of knowledge, to overcome them in a non-violent way, to crack down poverty and the new forms of slavery.

The aim of the meeting was to “bring together those two forms of knowledge to achieve a more comprehensive, richer and more humane approach to some critical and urgent issues, such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, threats to food security and health, among others,” he added.

Finally, Francis renewed the Catholic Church’s call for “universal fraternity, freedom, justice, dialogue, mutual encounter, love and peace, avoiding the nurturing of hatred, rancor, divisions, violence and war.”

jg/omr/ro/ort