THE Vatican has cited the Diocese of Maasin in Southern Leyte as the first diocese in the entire Catholic church to have switched to renewable energy.
In a 200-page document titled “On the Journey for Care of the Common Home,” the Vatican acknowledged the Diocese of Maasin led by Bishop Precioso Cantillas for installing solar panels in its parishes.
Released on the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ on June 18, the document served as a guide for all Catholic churches and its believers around the world on how to put their Christian faith into action to protect the environment.
The new Vatican document offers “an orientation to the action of Catholics in the secular dimension and to ask every Christian to examine their own behavior, also in everyday life.”
The book also contains “best practices” of the different countries and organizations across the globe on caring for the planet, according to Catholic news site Licas.news.
In a report, the Vatican also cited the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on the Laity for advocating renewable energy.
“In this project, they also promote information and communication campaigns to spread the teachings of Pope Francis and the Laudato si,” the document read.
The “Holy See Interdicastery Table on Integral Ecology,” which was formed in 2015, drafted the document. (SunStar Philippines)