Pilgrims queue to pray in front of a Marian statue erected in 1972 on a hill in Kon Plong district of Kontum on Dec. 9. (Photo by Anna Nguyen)
A Vietnamese bishop has asked thousands of pilgrims at a Marian shrine to care for the environment following a government admission that pollution has become "unbearable."
"We should recognize our sins of damaging creation and disrespecting the environment we live in," Bishop Aloisius Nguyen Hung Vi of Kontum told some 25,000 pilgrims.
He addressed them at a celebration of the Immaculate Conception held on Dec. 8-9 at the Shrine of Mang Den in the mountainous district of Kon Plong, Kontum province.
"To preserve the environment means to preserve God's creation and to hurt nature is also to hurt people indirectly," the bishop said.
He urged people to avoid using plastic bags, divide their garbage for recycling and reuse or repair items rather than throw them away.
The bishop also asked them to walk, ride bicycles or take public transport rather than ride motorbikes, the most popular vehicles in the country. People should also save energy and water.
Responding to the bishop's call, pilgrims collected garbage and cleaned the shrine before they returned home.
"Environmental pollution has already reached an unbearable level," Natural Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha told the National Assembly recently.
The minister suggested sources of pollution be reduced and eventually closing all damaging projects and factories.
He admitted that environmental standards in Vietnam are low but said the government would fix the problem.
According to government reports, industrial zones and trade villages pollute air, land and water. They discharge toxic chemicals, solid waste, dust and untreated waste water.
For example, over 100 out of the country's 183 industrial zones have not installed waste water treatment systems.
Since 2009 people from An Bai town in the northern province of Thai Binh have been unable to collect rainwater because it has been polluted by dust spewing from 70 lime kilns.
