Churches spotlight stewardship of water for Season of Creation amid drought

In his prayer video, the Pope asked God for forgiveness for society turning water ‘into a commodity, forgetting that it is a universal gift, a right without borders, meant for all your children’.

Pope Leo XIV has chosen care for water as his prayer intention for September, coinciding with the Season of Creation, which runs until 4 October.

This summer, Europe has experienced extreme droughts, with some of the worst harvests in recent memory and severe damage to some of the continent’s rivers.

This also comes after the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)’s COP17, held in Ulaanbaatur, Mongolia, from 17-28 August, at which African countries’ call for a legally binding UN protocol on drought risk management was not heeded, but postponed to the next negotiations in two years’ time.

“You have given us the gift of water, source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope,” the Pope prayed. “It quenches thirst, nourishes the earth, and heals wounds.

“Today we ask You to teach us to safeguard it with gratitude, justice, and responsibility. We see with pain so many brothers and sisters who lack clean water, who walk for miles to find it, who become ill due to its scarcity.

“May your Spirit make us pilgrims of the essential, able to live with simplicity, denouncing waste and pollution, defending the right of every brother and sister to drink without fear and without inequality.

“May our care for water be a sign of love for the Creator and a commitment to the lives of the poor, educating new generations to value and protect the Earth’s resources.”

The Church of England has also chosen “living water” as its theme for the Season of Creation 2026: “God’s life-giving water flows from the temple of God, growing deeper, restoring barren land, reviving waters, and sustaining flourishing ecosystems,” it said in a statement.

“The vision invites human responsibility: recognising ecological damage, embracing interconnectedness, we are called to immerse ourselves in the water, and actively safeguarding and working for the renewal of creation so that environmental healing and human well-being may flourish together.”

Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle Stephen Wright, chair of Cafod’s board of trustees, said the theme of this year’s Season of Creation “draws attention to the most basic things we need for life” and the fact that “to care for our common home is to care for the poorest in society”.

“I had the privilege of visiting Zimbabwe on behalf of Cafod, and I went to a very poor and arid area called Rushinga, where the importance of water, something we very often just take for granted, was absolutely crystal clear.

“I saw Cafod and other charities providing water by digging wells, and the impact that had for society was dramatic: whereas people would have had to walk up to seven miles to get water, there it was, within their villages.”

The Church of England has also published a teaching document on the bishops’ theological response to the environmental crises this year, entitled Hope for All Creation. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations has heard that faith communities will be crucial for improving drought resilience and responding to desertification and land degradation aggravated by climate change.

Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatur, participated in an interfaith dialogue at the UNCCD’s COP17.

The negotiations, on the theme “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope”, covered responses to land degradation, desertification and drought, concluding with a $1.3 billion pledge for projects to restore damaged land and build resilience to droughts, which the World Resources Institute said was “still a fraction of an estimated $278 billion annual financing gap”.

The World Council of Churches and World Vision International held a side event on sustainable agriculture, stressing that “land degradation belongs in the moral column and not only the technical one”.

The Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA) organised another side event on how to scale up faith-led restoration efforts globally.

CYNESA also signed a Declaration on Land, Peace and Security, brought forward by Nigerian civil society organisation Surge Africa, calling on governments to make land governance more equitable and increase support for land restoration in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Pope deplores ‘desire for domination and profit’ driving environmental destruction

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