Hawking, a physicist who has been outspoken in his belief God does not exist, joined a summit of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences - of which Hawking is a member - where the challenges of climate change were discussed.
Addressing the meeting on Monday, the Pontiff said: "In our modern world, we have grown up thinking ourselves owners and masters of nature, authorized to plunder it without any consideration of its hidden potential and laws of development, as if subjecting inanimate matter to our whims, with the consequence of grave loss to biodiversity, among other ills.
"We are not custodians of a museum or of its major artefacts to be dusted each day, but rather co-operators in protecting and developing the life and biodiversity of the planet and of human life present there."
The Pope also highlighted a need for the scientific community to lead the way in offering "general and specific solutions to issues such as water scarcity, renewable energy and food security.
He went on to say: "Just as the scientific community, through interdisciplinary dialogue, has been able to research and demonstrate our planet's crisis, so too today that same community is called to offer a leadership that provides general and specific solutions..."