Pope Francis demanded swift action yesterday to save the planet from environmental ruin, urging world leaders to hear “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” and plunging the Catholic Church into political controversy over climate change.
In the first papal document dedicated to the environment, he called for “decisive action, here and now,” to stop environmental degradation and global warming, squarely backing scientists who say it is mostly man-made. In the encyclical Laudato Si (Praise Be), On the Care of Our Common Home”, Pope Francis advocated a change of lifestyle in rich countries steeped in a “throwaway” consumer culture and an end to an “obstructionist attitudes” that sometimes put profit before the common good.
He also took on big business, appearing to back “what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products” in order to force companies to respect the environment.
Pontiff advocates change of lifestyle steeped in consumer culture
The most controversial papal pronouncement in half a century has already won him the wrath of conservatives, including several US Republican presidential candidates who have scolded Pope Francis for delving into science and politics..
His appeal won broad praise from scientists, the UN and climate change activists.
Latin America’s first pope said protecting the planet was a moral and ethical “imperative” for believers and non-believers alike that should supersede political and economic interests.
The clarion call to his flock of 1.2 billion members, the most controversial papal document since Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae upholding the Church’s ban on contraception, could spur the world’s Catholics to lobby policymakers on ecology issues and climate change. The Argentine-born Pontiff, 78, decried a “myopia of power politics” he said had delayed far-sighted environmental action.
“Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms,” he wrote. Because Pope Francis has said he wants to influence this year’s key UN climate summit in Paris, the encyclical further consolidated his role as a global diplomatic player.
Pope Francis dismissed the argument that “technology will solve all environmental problems and that)global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth”.
Time was running out to save a planet “beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth” and which could see “an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems” this century.
“Once more, we need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals.”
Politicians urged to follow Papal lead
Friends of the Earth Malta yesterday welcomed the Pope’s Encyclical, saying Francis has shown “impressive and inspiring leadership” where many elected leaders had failed.
“He is both a friend of the earth and of the millions of people in poorer, vulnerable nations whose lives are already being shattered by extreme weather. Addressing climate change is a matter of justice: those who have contributed least to causing the crisis are suffering the greatest consequences,” FoE said.
It called on politicians to follow the Pope’s lead in the run-up to the Paris climate summit.
The Nationalist Party, which also welcomed the Encyclical, urged the Labour government to be inspired by the Pope’s words and make decisions in the interests of the environment.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna will present the main points of the encyclical at the Seminary in Tal-Virtú on Wednesday at 7pm. Among those in attendance will be MPs, NGO and Church group representatives, heads of school and parish priests.