DESIGN FICTION: Saints of the Regeneration
Vatican, 2044
Pope Theresa has introduced a new pathway to Catholic sainthood. In doing so, she recognises those who dedicate their lives for the protection and preservation of the Biodiversity of Life.
The new category, introduced in an official letter from the pope on Tuesday, is "one of the most significant changes in centuries to the Roman Catholic Church's saint-making procedures," the South China Morning Post reports.
Before the change, there were four categories that provided a path to sainthood: being killed for the faith (martyrdom), living a life heroically of Christian virtues, having a strong reputation for religious devotion and sacrificing ones life for others.
The process of becoming a saint begins after an individual's death. According to the Vatican's official stream, the new category has four main criteria:
The individual must freely and voluntarily dedicate their life to Biodiversity.
The person must show Christian virtues, before and after dedicating their life to the cause of Biodiversity.
They must have a "reputation for holiness" at least after their death.
They must have performed a feat or outcome in service of Biodiversity that was thought impossible or extremely improbable at the outset of their work.
Archbishop Marie Cannavaro, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, said that this is intended "to promote heroic Christian testimony in the face of the destruction of the Library of Life. It is recognition of the Church for the mystery of life in all its wonder and glorious detail."
The pope's letter announcing the new category is called "Scio omnia volatilia caeli," which is taken from this passage in Psalms:
"May the glory of the Lord abide for ever, and may the Lord rejoice in his works …
For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine."
The first saint to be canonized through this new pathway is Saint Diogo Ribeiro of the Amazon.
St. Diogo was raised in the southeastern basin of the Amazon amongst the Amahuaca people that managed the forests and rivers of their homeland. He has been referred to as a “child of nature” who went often as a boy into the rainforest to make crosses out of sticks and to speak with God. At age 15, Diogo converted to Catholicism.
Diogo is the first indigenous Amazonian to be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church and had been informally considered the patron saint of biodiversity.
Over the course of several decades, Diogo has planted and tended native trees and plant-life in the river basin of his birth which had been left entirely deforested and near-lifeless due to logging and ranching around the turn of the century. In his work, he faced extreme hardship, imprisonment and suffered violence at the hands of local government. His mission to "return the Amazon to God's vision" faced severe setbacks, including the intentional burning of the rewilded rainforest in 2026, the murder of his son in 2028 and the loss of sight in both of eyes in the same incident in which his son was killed. Despite these and many more challenges to the work of restoring the Amazon, Diogo continued his work until his death in 2037.
The Restoration project that he began alone is continued to this day by his daughters and grandchildren and is responsible for the preservation of over 26 species of bird, 187 species of insect and 912 species of plant that have not been recorded elsewhere on this planet.
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