“Faced with the widespread destruction of the environment people everywhere are coming to understand that we cannot continue to use the goods of the earth as we have in the past. . . a new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge - the ecological crisis is a moral issue.” 
“Alongside the ecology of nature there exists what can be called a “human” ecology, which in turn demands a “social” ecology. All this means that humanity, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence and vice versa.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Jan. 1, 2007, The Human Person, the Heart of Peace (para 8)
See also: the full text of Benedict's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Oct 2009) , Oblate-Franciscan JPIC resource list for discussion groups, Canadian bishops' overview of JPIC, Catholic Encyclopedia. Catholics play a major role in World Council of Churches ecumenical work on JPIC: see its history and current international campaigns.
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Let us not forget Rerum Novarum stood the test of history for about a 100 years before globalization and free trade came and crushed it in the betrayal of workers everywhere. The Church was late in its response to this attack and we explored the latent response of religion and philosophy to the global economic arena at http://www.therationale.com
We also review Pope Benedict's economic encyclical at http://tapsearch.com/pope-benedict-economic-encyclical from forecasts years ago about the coming "Bewildered New World". The signs were there but only a few responded. Ray Tapajna http://tapsearch.com/tapartnews
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