The 4th International Prize of the Accademia Kronos Association for the Protection of the Environment was awarded, among others, to Pope Francis this year, reported “Vatican News” on December 15, 2020.

According to “Vatican News,” this Prize sees in the concept of integral ecology, expressed by the Holy Father, especially in the Encyclical Laudato Si’, “a new vision that can become a beacon.”

The Pope was awarded for “having put at the center of his pontifical action the subject of integral ecology and the shared cultural patrimony in a logic of sustainable development and universal solidarity, addressing every person that inhabits our planet,” reads the letter announcing the Prize. His work stresses “the duty of everyone to do their part in the Common Home.”

This international Prize is titled “Io Faccio la Mia Parte” (I Do My Part”), and it consists of a small sculpture made from recycled material, which represents a hummingbird of an African fable. It’s said that during a forest fire, while all animals fled to the river, the hummingbird flew in the opposite direction, taking a drop of water in its beak and saying: “I do my part.”

The Pope’s message goes beyond ecology, given its intensity and universality, explained lawyer Ottavio Maria Capparella, head of the Association’s Juridical Office and Delegate for institutional relations with the Vatican. And this message is simple and accessible to all, he added

In a letter to Pope Francis, dated November 16, the Association’s President, Franco Floris, paid tribute to the Pontiff’s teaching, who has “made the necessary appeals, not only to institutions and the powerful of the world but to all that live on our planet, entrusting to them the duty to do ‘their part,’ including through daily actions.”

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester

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