Pope Benedict XVI, Message for 2010 World Day of Peace

The world "is not the product of any necessity whatsoever, nor of blind fate or chance.... The world proceeds from the free will of God; he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, in his intelligence, and in his goodness". .... As a result, the work of "exercising dominion" over the earth, "tilling it and keeping it", was also disrupted, and conflict arose within and between mankind and the rest of creation (cf. Gen 3:17-19). Human beings let themselves be mastered by selfishness; they misunderstood the meaning of God's command and exploited creation out of a desire to exercise absolute domination over it. But the true meaning of God's original command, as the Book of Genesis clearly shows, was not a simple conferral of authority, but rather a summons to responsibility. ... Man thus has a duty to exercise responsible stewardship over creation, to care for it and to cultivate it.