“One out of every two people lives off of the ocean,” says a description below the Pope’s September intention video. “Their death is the death of all life on earth, including us,” it continues. Pope Francis has asked us to pray for the oceans this month. His September prayer intention is:

The Protection of the Oceans
That politicians, scientists and economists work together to protect the world’s seas and oceans.

“Oceans contain the bulk of our planet’s water supply, and also most of the immense variety of living creatures, many of which are threatened for various reasons,” explains the Holy Father in his monthly video.

People all around the world depend on the oceans for food and to support their families. When these ecosystems are polluted and damaged, it not only affects marine life, but the many people who depend on them to live.

“The whole question of climate change as the oceans rise in level, that’s going to affect all sorts of people all around the world on the shore. It’s really going to affect poor people more than it’s going to affect anyone else. Because any time something impacts the economy, it impacts people in poverty more—that’s the nature of being that the people on the bottom get the least. And when something is affecting everything, people on the bottom are affected the most. … When the pope is asking us to pray for the oceans, the pope is really asking us to pray that we’ll have kind of the respect for all of humanity,” said John Feister, Vice President of the Catholic Press Association, on Morning Air^®.

It’s up to all of us to work together to project the earth that God has entrusted to our care. We may not be able to see our direct connection to the world’s oceans, but our care for them affects us and also the world’s most vulnerable.

“If we don’t take care of our oceans we’re going to burn this place up—we’ll dry up all of our resources. I think that’s another message of the Holy Father is that short-term gain isn’t the way for us to live. It’s the drive of unfettered capitalism, if you will, of irresponsible use of the resources. But a responsible use of the resources really helps us all to think about a future together,” said Feister.

“Creation is a project of love given by God to humanity. Our solidarity with the ‘common home’ is born from our faith,” said Pope Francis. The Holy Father is no stranger to tackling environmental issues; he has urged care for the earth in his encyclical, Laudato Si. It is through this protection of the earth that we can also show our care for the most marginalized and poor of the earth.

Tune in to Morning Air at the beginning of each month for a discussion on the pope’s monthly prayer intention.