Pope Leo XIV called for the defense of water as a universal right, rejecting its transformation into a commodity. The appeal comes in the prayer intention for the month of September, released by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, which coincides with the beginning of the Season of Creation on September 1.
In the prayer, the pontiff asks forgiveness for having made water a commodity, forgetting that it is a universal gift meant for all. The text expresses pain at the reality of millions of people without access to drinking water, who walk kilometers to find it and fall ill from its scarcity.
The Pope asks that Catholics be "pilgrims of the essential, capable of living with sobriety, denouncing waste and contamination." The prayer defends the right of every person "to drink without fear, without inequality" and calls for the protection of the Earth's resources for future generations.
Father Cristóbal Fones, international director of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, emphasized that no one can live without water and no one should die due to its lack. The Season of Creation, which unites Christians from various denominations in prayer and climate action initiatives, extends until October 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.
