People walk along the water Sept. 9 in Boca de Brito, Nicaragua, a small community on the Pacific coast. Catholic Church representatives in Nicaragua are concerned about the potential social and environmental impact of building a 172-mile-long canal through the country to link the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. (CNS photo / Edgardo Ayala)
"Economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment."
- Pope Francis, from "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" (Paragraph 56)
