For Pope Benedict, it's elemental: Safe water is of grave importance

Published: 2007-09-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI turns on the tap in his Vatican apartment, it's a reminder that potable water is a precious resource in today's world. The 109-acre Vatican City does not have its own water source, and it relies on Italy to furnish it with the estimated 5 million cubic meters of water consumed inside the Vatican each year. That arrangement is guaranteed by a 1929 treaty. When the treaty was drafted, it didn't seem like a big deal to promise the Vatican an everlasting "adequate endowment of water." But things have changed: In many countries, water has become a sensitive environmental, political and economic issue. In recent remarks to youths at an Italian Marian shrine, Pope Benedict said he was concerned about the equitable sharing of the world's water supplies and warned that water shortages could easily fuel conflicts. Three days later the pope sent a greeting to an environmental conference in Greenland, saying the care of water resources was of "grave importance" for the entire human family. The pope's appeals were brief, but they reflected the Vatican's increasing interest in the moral, political and scientific aspects of the world's safe water supply.

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