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“TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS” [1]

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Date: 2023-10-11  

I am a very irreligious person and often dismiss organized religion and religious leaders as antagonistic to reason and science. However, on climate change, the Roman Catholic Church led by Pope Francis is playing a major leadership role in demanding immediate and coordinated international action to prevent the impending climate catastrophe.

This blog highlights the most recent “apostolic exhortation” by Pope Francis that implored the nations and people of the world to protect the planet and human civilization. It is an update to his 2015 papal encyclical “Laudato Si” where Francis called for swift climate action, climate action, that despite the Paris Climate Agreement and numerous international conferences, has not taken place. Francis issued the “apostolic exhortation” in preparation for the United Nations sponsored climate change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai at the end of November and beginning of December. Since it is a religious document written by a religious leader, there is a lot of religious reference that I am leaving out to focus on the political and scientific message.

In the new “apostolic exhortation,” Francis wrote “With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point . . . it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.”

Francis pulled no punches about the role of the world’s economic powerhouses and corporations in creating the current situation. “The ethical decadence of real power is disguised, thanks to marketing and false information, useful tools in the hands of those with greater resources to employ them to shape public opinion.” He criticized the “irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model” and noted that “emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries.” While affluent nations are making efforts to mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change, “The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world . . . How can we forget that Africa, home to more than half of the world’s poorest people, is responsible for a minimal portion of historic emissions? . . . Regrettably, the climate crisis is not exactly a matter that interests the great economic powers, whose concern is with the greatest profit possible at minimal cost and in the shortest amount of time.” Francis warned the rich and powerful, “Everything is connected” and “No one is saved alone.”

One thing I especially appreciated was Francis’ defense of climate science. “No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest on the part of the earth that are only a few palpable expressions of a silent disease that affects everyone . . . In recent years, some have chosen to deride these facts . . . Once and for all, let us put an end to the irresponsible derision that would present this issue as something purely ecological, ‘green,’ romantic, frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests . . . It is no longer possible to doubt the human – “anthropic” – origin of climate change.”

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