2015 - Volume 18 Number 1

Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Laudato Si’, subtitled ‘On Care for Our Common Home’ underscores its main message: that we share a small interconnected planet which can only become a reality in ‘relationship’ with all creation, people and the Creator.

This relationship calls all to a change or conversion of heart - both individual and communal. The Pope is making a challenging call to all people who seek justice and integrity of creation- not just people of faith.

There is a call to make a space that allows dialogue and engagement to occur. There is a call to inclusion. An exclusion derived from a politics dictated more by special interests and powerful elites has resulted in our most vulnerable sisters and brothers being marginalised.

Clearly here is a response to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

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2014 - Volume 17 Number 1

Roma people have faced stigmatisation, discrimination and marginalisation for centuries in Europe - enduring wars, a lack of cultural understanding, prejudice and hardship. 

With over 500,000 killed by the Nazis, they remain forgotten victims of 20th century genocides, where as survivors they were refused assistance and compensation. 

And yet exclusion, prejudice and poverty have continued. Average life expectancy in Europe is 10 to 15 years less than for other Europeans. Roma communities occupy the lowest rung of the economic ladder of European residents with over 75% living below the poverty line.

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2013 - Volume 16 Number 5

The coral atolls and other low-lying islands that dot the Pacific Ocean are just a few meters above sea-level. These islands will experience a higher sea level rise than other parts of the world and Pacific peoples are already exposed to the adverse effects of climate change, something that is not of their own doing.  Pacific Island nations cannot afford to wait any longer; that is a luxury belonging to developed nations.  They are compelled to attend to their very survival. 

The plight of Pacific peoples was given a strong shake-up on the fifth of September this year by Pacific Island Leaders gathered at the 45th Pacific Islands Forum representing fourteen South Pacific Islands spread throughout a vast area of 3.5 million square kilometres of ocean: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. 

In Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands, Forum members, together with Australia and New Zealand, signed the “Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership.” The significance of the document lies precisely in the firm political leadership of the Pacific Islands. Now, stepping up to even greater leadership, they “commit to being Climate Leaders.” Because “to lead is to act” they make a compelling case for others to follow their lead. 

Tired of waiting for others to “go first,” the Pacific’s plucky new approach recognises that developed countries have other agendas, but at the same time “if the Pacific Islands disappear… it will be too late for everyone else.” This echoes the assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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