Since Pope Francis was elected to the papacy in March 2013, he has voiced strong support for protecting Earth's environment and especially preserving the rain forests in his homeland, South America.

On Saturday, Francis, who took his name from Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century saint and the patron saint of animals and the environment, called environmental exploitation, such as chopping down the rain forest, a sin of modern times, Reuters reported.

The Pope delivered a speech to students, laid-off workers and struggling farmers at the University of Molise, a southern Italian agricultural and industrial region. He said people need to respect the Earth and its resources without exploiting them.

"This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation," said Pope Francis, who is from Argentina. "When I look at America, also my own homeland, so many forests, all cut, that have become land ... that can [no] longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to give us what she has within her."

The pope is writing an encyclical about humans and their relationship with nature, according to Reuters.

Following Francis' speech at the university hall, the pope led a Mass at a stadium for tens of thousands of people.

On April 22, 2013, during a visit with Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, Pope Francis instructed him to "take good care of creation," according to the Catholic Climate Covenant.

"St. Francis wanted that. People occasionally forgive, but nature never does," Francis said. "If we don't take care of the environment, there's no way of getting around it."

And as recently as May 21, the pope delivered a similar speech to an audience in Rome, where he said creation and the environment are gifts from God.

"Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is [it] the property of only a few," Francis said. "Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude."