Move over, Jimi Hendrix

Pope Francis on Monday announced the observance of a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to be celebrated beginning this and every September 1 thereafter. But what’s Jimi Hendrix got to do with the Pope?

It’s because the Pope’s announcement created a veritable Earth Day celebration for all Catholics around the world, far removed from the Earth Day that’s been celebrated every April 22 since 1970.

The April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of what many consider to be the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970 – the year of the last Beatles album, the release of Simon and Garfunkel’s "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and, of course, the year Hendrix died.

But there should be no harm celebrating the “Flower Power-inspired Earth Day on April 22 and Pope Francis’ September 1 Earth Day.

"As Christians, we wish to contribute to resolving the ecological crisis which humanity is presently experiencing. In doing so, we must first rediscover in our own rich spiritual patrimony the deepest motivations for our concern for the care of creation,” said the Pope.

"The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation.” –End-

Image by: HUTC