Pope Benedict, leading the Catholic Church's first 'eco-friendly' youth rally, today told up to half a million people that world leaders must make courageous decisions to save the planet "before it is too late".
"A decisive 'yes' is needed in decisions to safeguard creation as well as a strong commitment to reverse tendencies that risk leading to irreversible situations of degradation," the 80-year old Pope said in his homily.
Intentionally wearing green vestments, he spoke to a vast crowd of mostly young people sprawled over a massive hillside near the Adriatic city of Loreto on the day Italy's Catholic Church marks it annual Save Creation Day.
More than 300,000 of them had slept on blankets and in tents or prayed during the night. Organisers said they were joined by some 200,000 more people who arrived from throughout Italy this morning.
"New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature's delicate equilibriums," the Pope said, speaking to the crowd from a massive white stage.
Making one of his strongest environmental appeals to date Benedict said: "Courageous choices that can re-create a strong alliance between man and earth must be made before it is too late."
The two-day rally the Pope closed with a Sunday morning mass was the first environmentally friendly youth rally, a break from past gatherings that left tonnes of garbage and scars on the earth.