Pope Francis In an address at the university of Molise:

“This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation,” he told students, struggling farmers, and laid-off workers in a university hall on Saturday.

“When I look at America, also my own homeland (South America), so many forests, all cut, that have become land … that can longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to her give us what she has within her,” the Argentine pope said in unprepared remarks.

Francis, the 13th century saint is seen as the patron of animals and the environment.

Since his election in March, 2013, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has made many appeals in defense of the environment.

[SOURCE](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/07/pope-calls-destruction-nature-modern-sin-201475111022460224.html)