Cardinal Czerny: We must urgently adopt new behaviors to protect environment
By Daniele Piccini – Castel Gandolfo
“Thanks be to God, to all of you here, to my parents, whose love of nature and commitment to recycling left their mark on me, and to all those who listen to the cry of the poor and the Earth.”
These were the words of gratitude spoken by Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who was awarded the “Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal” by Villanova University on the evening of 13 October, during an award ceremony held at the Laudato Si’ Village in the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo.
It was at the Pennsylvania-based university in the United States that Robert Francis Prevost, the future Pope Leo XIV, earned a degree in mathematics in 1977.
The cry of the poor and the Earth
The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal is an international award established by Villanova University in 2026. It recognizes individuals who demonstrate leadership in environmental responsibility, social justice, care for the most vulnerable, and the responsible stewardship of resources.
The award ceremony took place as part of the 2026 Villanova University International Sustainability Conference, entitled “Responding to the Cry of the Earth and the Poor.”
The conference is being held in Rome from 12 to 15 October, bringing together more than 300 academics, researchers, Church representatives, and leaders from the public and private sectors. It is supported by the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Centre and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Model of Noah: a bulwark against destruction
In his acceptance speech, Cardinal Czerny, chosen as the first recipient of the award in recognition of more than 50 years of commitment to human dignity, social justice, migrants, and care for creation, explained that two figures serve as models for his approach to integral ecology.
The first is Noah, the Old Testament patriarch, a righteous man who obeyed God and built an ark to save his family and the animals from the great flood, according to the account in the Book of Genesis.
“Thanks to him,” the Cardinal said, “destruction did not have the last word. Humanity and the Earth were granted a reprieve: a wonderful opportunity to begin again, symbolized by the dove with ‘a fresh olive leaf in its beak’ and, for all time, by the rainbow.”
We, too, the Cardinal continued, find ourselves facing a situation that puts our perseverance and faith to the test, just as it did for Noah.
“It seems to me,” he added, “that this is the essence of the contemporary challenge of sustainability: an opportunity, before it is too late, to protect and save humanity from environmental self-destruction.”
People without roots
The second great model for the recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal is “the Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry, a refugee from a tiny, distant planet on which there is a garden with a beautiful rose, but also a sheep that threatens to eat it”.
The flower tells the Little Prince about human beings, observing that “you never know where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their lives very difficult”, the former prefect said, summarizing this passage from the celebrated novella by the French writer.
Noah and the Little Prince confront two dimensions of unsustainability that continue to threaten the contemporary world.
“The lawlessness of Noah’s time and a chronic sense of rootlessness also prevail today. Let us listen to these evocative poetic images, which denounce the calamity of unsustainability. They urge us towards a profound and ongoing conversion, the only true solution: abandoning our many bad habits and embarking on new paths through countless changes in personal, community, and social behavior,” the Cardinal concluded.
We need one another
Following a musical interlude by the Roma Tre Orchestra quartet, which performed two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimenti, Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, delivered his welcome address.
He recalled that the Pope had undergone surgery that afternoon and had therefore been unable to present Cardinal Czerny with the award bearing his own name.
“We had hoped to celebrate this occasion in the presence of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV,” the Cardinal said.
“Although surgery prevents him from being with us today, we remain close to him in affection and prayer. We ask the Lord to grant him strength, peace, and a full recovery. His absence reminds us of a simple yet profound truth: we need one another. We are called to accompany one another, especially in moments of vulnerability.”
“Everything is connected”
Responding to the question of what responsibility we have towards others and towards God, Cardinal Baggio said: “Our Christian faith teaches us that creation is a gift entrusted to our care, not a resource to be exploited without limits. It also teaches us that every human person is created in the image of God and possesses a dignity that cannot be measured by wealth, power, or productivity.”
The conviction that “everything is connected,” the Cardinal continued, lies at “the heart of integral ecology, so powerfully expressed by Pope Francis in Laudato si’”, the encyclical published in 2015.
For this reason, he added, “care for creation cannot be separated from care for people. We cannot protect the Earth while ignoring the poor.”
He concluded by encouraging those present to seek new and increasingly effective ways of caring for creation and the most vulnerable.
“We must create tangible models of integral ecology in our communities, institutions, schools, workplaces, and economic choices — models in which environmental responsibility, human flourishing, and the common good reinforce one another,” he said.
He then invited those present to observe a minute of personal silence and pray for the health of Pope Leo XIV.
Healing our common home
After acknowledging the Pope’s absence and conveying the entire Villanova University community’s sentiments to him, the university’s president, Augustinian Father Peter M. Donohue, OSA, expressed the hope that “this medal may be a beacon of hope for the whole world for generations to come, reminding us that science without charity is blind, but charity without courage and action remains incomplete."
“When truth, unity, and love work together, they become a powerful force for healing our common home and promoting the dignity of every human being,” he concluded.
Father John Abubakar, OSA, Villanova University’s senior director responsible for environmental sustainability strategy and policy, recalled the key milestones in Cardinal Czerny’s life and expressed his gratitude.
“We extend our deepest gratitude to the leadership of the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Centre, who welcomed us so warmly and truly made us feel that this is our common home, and to all those who accompanied us and worked so generously to make this day possible,” he concluded.
