The Catechism of the Catholic Church urges Catholicsto act responsibly toward God’s creation:
2415 “The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.”
I know that the next part doesn’t come from the Catechism but it is the words of the last pope
Pope John Paul II’s 1990 World Day of Peace statement includes: “When man turns his back on the Creator’s plan he provokes a disorder which has inevitable repercussions on the rest of the created order”.
In his Common Declaration of Environmental Ethics Pope John Paul II declared :
“God has not abandoned the world. It is His will that His design and our hope for it will be realized through our co-operation in restoring its original harmony. In our own time we are witnessing a growth of an ecological awareness which needs to be encouraged, so that it will lead to practical programmes and initiatives. An awareness of the relationship between God and humankind brings a fuller sense of the importance of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, which is God’s creation and which God entrusted to us to guard with wisdom and love (cf. Gen 1:28).”
