Pope Francis, who has been called the world’s first religious figurehead to turn rock star by the Independent, has proven to be as concerned about using his influence for environmental causes as Bono.

The Argentine pontiff is encouraging the world to ensure that its water supplies are protected and available to all.

As reported in an Associated Press article, Francis noted that the United Nations was marking Sunday as an occasion to draw attention to the importance of water.

Making his point, Francis quoted St. Francis of Assisi, the friar who devoted himself to a life of poverty and praised water for its usefulness as well as for its purity.

The remarks were made on World Water Day, which is a day all about H2O awareness, and considering scary information such as that, for the average American, taking a five-minute shower uses up more water than a person in the slums of a developing country uses up in an entire day.

Soon Francis plans to detail his views on the environment in an encyclical, which is a Vatican position paper that is reserved for important matters.

Addressing his public in St. Peter's Square, Francis called water "the most essential element for life."

He elaborated, saying that "humanity's future depends on our ability to care for it and share it."

And the pope is not kidding around.

As an NPR article points out, “The water we have here on Earth came mostly from outer space as our planet was forming. It is the legacy of countless collisions with comets and asteroids, something that, fortunately, slowed down dramatically about 4 billion years ago. This means that what we have here is what we get, at least until we start mining celestial objects for water and minerals, a project far in the future.”

The pope has encouraged governments to ensure that water supplies are protected and accessible to everyone.