How is it that in the context of the referendum on April 11, in a country where the majority are Catholics, no mention has been made about what the Church teaches about the gifts of creation and our responsibilities for the whole of the environment?

The following quotations of successive popes should help voters decide whether to vote ‘Yes’, meaning keeping the status quo of allowing spring shooting, or ‘No’, meaning the end of killing birds on their way to nest and by implications their numerous future offspring.

St Pope John Paul II commented on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994 “The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good, of past, present and future humanity.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in1980 viewed respect for the environment as meaning “not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our interests, for future generations also have the right to reap the benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves”.

Talking to the bishops of Brazil in July 2013, Pope Francis upheld the respect and protection of the entire creation “which God has entrusted to us”. And he added: “When we destroy our forests, savage our soil and pollute our seas, we betray that noble calling to be stewards of creation.”

To the journalists accompanying him to Rome, he gave this stark warning: “Man betrays God by destroying the environment.”

I appeal to all believers to heed these papal calls on April 11 and vote as stewards of creation by voting ‘No’.