The Diocese of Orlando celebrated Earth Day on Friday by reminding parishioners that treating the Earth with respect is one of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

"Join us in celebrating Earth Day!" the diocese said in a recent Facebook post. "May we cherish the world gifted to us by our Heavenly Father."

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, but Catholics have long had an obligation to care for the planet. 

Caring for God's Creation is one of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in a report on its website. Mankind has a responsibility to be stewards of the earth, caring for the planet and the people who inhabit it. Today that goes even further, as current environmental challenges also incorporate moral and ethical facets.

The USCCB cited references to humanity's role in caring for the earth throughout the Bible, including Genesis, where God creates the Earth and instructs humans to care for it; Leviticus, which notes that the planet should not be abused; and other references in Daniel, Matthew and Romans, where the relationship between God and His Creation are highlighted.

Pope Francis issued his landmark encyclical Laudato Si ("Praise be to you, my Lord") in 2015. It is a work that remains a universal call for each person to understand and embrace personal responsibility for the welfare of the natural world that all people inhabit.

"The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change," an excerpt from the encyclical said. "The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home."

"We all need to make a contribution to halt the destruction of our common home and to restore nature: governments, businesses and citizens — we must act like brothers and sisters who share the Earth, the common home that God has given us," the pope tweeted on Earth Day recently.