Chiesa ed ecologia 1970-1972: un dialogo interrotto

[Catholic church and Ecology 1970-1972: an Interrupted Dialogue] Concern for the global natural resources depletion and degradation arose in the developed countries and in the internazional organizations since the end of the Second World War. Then it gained more and more visibility during the 1960s, initially in the United States and later in the European countries. If Anglo-Saxon Protestant theologians began to deal with the relation among ecology and faith very early, in the Catholic Church the issue was virtually ignored, in spite of the many important innovations of the Second Vatican Council. In 1970, on the contrary, a blossoming occurred of studies and reflection in the Catholic field about ecology. This progress coincided with the first papal official stance on the subject and with the request by the United Nation to prepare a specific Vatican dossier for the Stockholm conference on human environment of June 1972. The article retraces how the Holy See prepared the participation to the Stockholm conference and the many implications of this participation on the relationship between Catholic Church and ecology.