The Vatican has condemned so-called
'eco-vandalism' targetting cultural heritage in a document on
tourism by Rino Fisichella, the Pro-prefect for New
Evangelization.
The issue is topical as civil-disobedience groups such as
Italy's Ultima Generazione (Last Generation - UG) have started
to target artworks and monuments in protests aimed at
highlighting the need to tackle the climate crisis.
A hearing took place in the Vatican on Wednesday in the trial of
three UG members over a stunt in which two ofthem glued
themselves to the pedestal supporting the Laocoon statue in the
Vatican Museums last summer.
"It is useful to reiterate that the protection of artworks that
have been humanity's heritage for centuries and have become
attractions for tourists from all over the work is the
responsibility of everyone," Fisichella wrote.
"So every form of violence that attacks their conservation must
be condemned with conviction".
UG and its sister groups in other parts of the world say they do
not like staging disruptive and controversial protests, but see
no alternative as decades of efforts to get leaders to stop the
greenhouse-gas emissions that are driving humanity towards
climate breakdown via traditional methods of protest have proved
fruitless.
UG's protests targetting monuments have featured the use of
easy-to-wash-off paint and their 'attacks' on artworks have
tended to regard the protective screens, rather than the works
themselves.
Pope Francis has repeatedly told the international community to
address the climate crisis and on Thursday called for an end to
the "senseless war against creation".
Last year United Nations Secretary General António Guterres
defended climate protestors.
"Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous
radicals," he said via Twitter.
"But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are
increasing the production of fossil fuels.
"Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and
economic madness".
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