Francis said the world’s poor are the least responsible for climate change, but the most affected by it, and he made an appeal to “hear the cry of the Earth as much as the cry of the poor”.
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“When we mistreat nature, we also mistreat human beings”, the pope said in a message marking the the Catholic Church’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which he instituted previous year in a bid to highlight his ecological concerns.
“When we mistreat nature, we also mistreat human beings”, Francis said. “This is leading to even more severe droughts, floods, fires, and extreme weather events”.
“Economics and politics, society and culture can not be dominated by thinking only of the short term and immediate financial or electoral gains”, Francis said, suggesting more ambitious action might be needed to curb climate change.
Officials said the call was the logical extension of Francis’ landmark and controversial ecological encyclical issued past year.
Ora added, “I’m going to do a whole “What’s up pope” thing” at the “Vatican Venue”, before Fallon suggested that she might Google more proper things to say to the Pontiff.
Pope Francis has called for urgent action to stop climate change, saying care of the environment should be added to the traditional works of mercy, such as feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless.
Catholics are long accustomed to social justice meant to help people, and are learning that helping the planet helps people too, Dinges said.
“We must not be indifferent or resigned to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems, often caused by our irresponsible and selfish behaviour”, he said.
On Thursday the Pope tweeted, “God gave us the earth “to till and to keep” in a balanced and respectful way”.
During this Jubilee Year, “let us learn to implore God’s mercy for those sins against creation that we have not hitherto acknowledged and confessed”, Francis said, while proposing that Christians need to undergo an “ecological conversion”.
“As part of paying down their “ecological debt” to their poorer neighbours, richer countries need to provide them with needed financial and technical support”, he said.
Speaking after Pope Francis’ speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2015, renowned environmental scientist Paul Ehrlich criticized the Catholic Church for failing to preach the dangers of overpopulation and refusing to allow its congregants to practice family planning. Six were spelled out in the New Testament; the seventh – burying the dead – was added in the Middle Ages.
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As a corporal work of mercy, he said, it “requires simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness and … felt in every action that seeks to build a better world”.
