Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

On behalf of the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas, I pay tribute and respect to the late Pope John Paul II who, as mentioned by previous speakers, was well known as a man of peace, opposing not only the violence of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland but also the bombing of Iraq and many other so-called legitimate wars. He was a man of reconciliation, and for that he has left a valuable legacy, reaching out to cultures and other religious traditions worldwide. As a man of forgiveness, he made many people sit up and take note when he embraced his would-be assassin. It is somewhat poignant that the day he died was the day after the 37th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, another world figure and renowned man of peace.

As also a man of justice in opposing greed and selfishness, many have commented on the need for his legacy to be emulated and to live on, but all too few have mentioned the strong, forthright words he said at the beginning of 2001 and at other times when he called and pleaded for an ecological conversion. It is clear that he meant his words to be taken seriously. He said:

. . . if we scan the regions of our planet, we immediately see that humanity has disappointed God's expectations. Man, especially in our time, has without hesitation devastated wooded plains and valleys, polluted waters, disfigured the earth's habitat, made the air unbreathable, disturbed the hydrogeological and atmospheric spheres and turned luxuriant areas into deserts and undertaken forms of unrestrained industrialisation, humiliatingthe . . . garden of the universe to use the image of Dante Alighieri.

He also said:

We must therefore encourage and support the 'ecological conversion' that in recent decades has made humanity more sensitive to the catastrophe to which it has been heading. Man is no longer the Creator's 'steward', but an autonomous despot, who is finally beginning to understand that he must stop at the edge of the abyss.

In 2001 in his pamphlet, God made Man the Steward of Creation, he made a plea which needs to be repeated and taken on board with the other legacies he left us. I thank God for people like Fr. Seán McDonagh who have championed those words and sentiments, as well as for Pope John Paul II. The Pope was not deaf to the cry of the earth but it appears that all too often the people to whom he was speaking overlooked it because it was too uncomfortable to take on board what he was saying.

Nuair a bhí me ag an aifreann i bPáirc an Fhionnuisce i 1979, ba léir go raibh meas ag an bPápa ar gach sórt cultúir agus ar theangacha éagsúla, mar labhair sé as Gaeilge chomh maith le Béarla ar an ócáid sin — agus ar ócáidí eile nuair a bhí sé ar cuairt in Éirinn. Tá sé an-tábhachtach go léirimidne an meas céanna ar na rudaí a dúirt sé agus ní amháin ar na rudaí ar mian linn a thuiscint agus a chloisint. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

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