Earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis has warned astronauts.
Pope Francis was speaking to a group of astronauts on board the International Space Station from the Vatican library when he lauded their opportunity to see Earth ‘from the eyes of God’.
The news comes just a month after the Pope called on world leaders to take the necessary decisions to curb heat-trapping emissions blamed for the warming of the Earth.
Earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis has warned astronauts. Pope Francis was speaking to a group of astronauts on board the International Space Station when he lauded their opportunity to see Earth ‘from the eyes of God’
He spent about 20 minutes in a video call to the six crew members on the space station, asking them several questions.
He said: ‘Good morning or Good evening.
‘Because when one is in space you never know.’
During the call, Pope Francis seemed moved by comments by mission commander, Randy Bresnik, who said what gave him the greatest joy in space was ‘to be able to look outside and see God’s creation maybe a little bit from his perspective.’
Mr Bresnick said: ‘People cannot come up here and see the indescribable beauty of our earth and not be touched in their souls.
‘There’s no borders, there’s no conflict; it’s just peaceful.’
In response, the Popes said Mr Bresnik had ‘managed to understand that the Earth is too fragile and it passes in a moment.’
He added: ‘It is a very fragile thing, the atmosphere is thin, so capable of doing harm, of destroying itself, and you have gone to look at it from the eyes of God.’
Sergey Ryazanskiy, one of two Russians on the space station, said he had decided to be a cosmonaut because his grandfather was one of the chief engineers who built Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, which the Soviet Union sent into a low Earth orbit in 1957 during the Cold War.
Sergey Ryazanskiy (pictured centre back), said he had decided to be a cosmonaut because his grandfather was one of the chief engineers who built Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, which the Soviet Union sent into a low Earth orbit in 1957 during the Cold War
In reference to this, Pope Francis said: ‘Roots are our hope and our strength. Don’t forget roots.’
Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who acted as translator for his Russian and American crew mates, thanked Pope Francis for coming ‘on board’ and ‘for taking us higher.’
Then a voice from mission control announced: ‘Station: We are now resuming normal operational communications.’
Randy Bresnick, one of the astronauts on board the ISS said: ‘People cannot come up here and see the indescribable beauty of our earth and not be touched in their souls. There’s no borders, there’s no conflict; it’s just peaceful’ (pictured is a view of Earth from the ISS)
This isn’t Pope Francis’ first appeal for the protection of the Earth’s environment.
In 2015, he published a letter calling for action to reduce the harm from global warming caused by human activity.
And last month he sharply criticised climate change doubters, saying history will judge those who fail to take action.
Pope Francis was asked about climate change and the spate of hurricanes, including Irma, that have pummelled the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
He called on world leaders to take the necessary decisions to curb heat-trapping emissions blamed for the warming of the Earth.