The recent unanimous rejection by the Planning Authority of the development proposal for Ħondoq ir-Rummien surely merits more than just a few moments of reflection.

Land issues are what they are, let alone in precious miniscule Gozo. Ħondoq is well-known as a frequented public space especially in summer in spite of the unsightly facades of a derelict quarry in the area. The development under consideration was evidently massive and would have changed the landscape – and access to it – for good. Not to mention the fabric of the quiet village of Qala.

With this kind of development projects it is impossible to dismiss the job potential and overall economic impact on the sister island. Decisions on such projects are never very straightforward but ultimately, in this case, it all boils down to one simple question: what is the Gozo that we would like to have?

The decision on Ħondoq is an opportunity to reminisce about St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, ecology and, nonetheless, merchants. He was born at Assisi in Umbria in 1181, the son of Pietro Bernardone, a wealthy merchant.

Francis was a born leader. He had inherited his father’s knack and was very good at business. He was the adventurous type and he ached for what he wanted most: fame and glory. He wanted knighthood and the place to achieve that was in battle. Opportunity knocked when Assisi declared war on the neighbouring Perugia; it was a very fragmented Italy at the time.

It turned out in disaster with most of his friends getting killed. Only the privileged few were spared, including himself, taken prisoner to be ransomed.

Finally released from the dungeons, Francis was not yet a changed man.

The turning point came in 1202 and it was the rallying call of Pope Innocent III for the Fourth Crusade. The last thing on the pope’s mind, one of the most powerful and influential figures in medieval Europe, was surely Francis and the let-down he was to give to his father when he rode back home after barely a day in shining armour babbling that he was converted.

Francis was ridiculed, his family humiliated. All he had to say was that while praying at the foot of a Crucifix he had heard a voice calling on him to repair His church. Francis, having interpreted the voice as referring to the dilapidated state of the building he was in, reacted impulsively and took cloth from his father’s shop to make the money needed for the repairs.

Historians remain surprised how St Francis was never excommunicated by the deeply secular and political Church

Pietro could not be contained. His son was also a thief. The legendary scene of Francis being dragged by his father to the bishop who asked him, sympathetically, to give the money back and that “God would provide” is well known.

Historians remain surprised how Francis was never excommunicated by the deeply secular and political Church that at the time was so interested in earthly matters, a situation that he so much desired to reform. Philosophers and even economists are of the suggestion that Francis’ detachment from material belongings and his blindfold trust in God must have inevitably brought him closer to nature.

The contrast with modern globalised social trends could not be wider: our obsession with the generation of wealth, irrespective of how it is ultimately distributed and whether the usual economic parameters, such as the gross domestic product, provide an adequate measure of welfare, reign paramount and supreme.

It took the papacy a full 2,000 years for a pope by the name of Francis to come out of conclave. Whether the reverberations were felt by the green lobby around the world is another matter but a unique message was certainly conveyed by the encyclical letter Laudato si’, which is inspired by the Canticle of the Creatures attributed to St Francis himself.

The first stanza says all: our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.

“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.

The choice of words is indeed sublime, “who sustains and governs us”, a reminder that the prevailing neo-classical economic model upon which industrial society is based still needs to be corrected given all its focus on labour and capital to the disregard of land, the third pillar that represents the resources from the earth and which are not infinite. Hence, the colossal market failures that are largely embedded in the form of global climate change as well as its complex ramifications.

Policymakers are in duty bound to raise the bar, globally and locally.

Environment protection has formed part of our national legal framework for a long time. It is downright awkward, however, that there is no mention of the environment in the Constitution, let alone of the right to enjoy it in such a state that renders it as clean and as safe as possible to safeguard human health.

It is up to policymakers to guarantee that any constitutional amendments introduced to this effect do not effectively result in stale lip service.

There may be those who can see through and who may already conjure that the task which lies ahead could easily present some daunting implications.

But, like St Francis in his days, there could be a Church in need of repair.

sapulis@gmail.com

Alan Pulis specialises in environmental management.