ROME — Pope Francis has consecrated his monthly prayer intention to “the cry of the earth” this September, urging Christians to feel the earth’s “pain.”
“If we took the planet’s temperature, it will tell us that the Earth has a fever,” the pontiff contends. “And it is sick, just like anyone who’s sick.”
“But are we listening to this pain?” he asks.
“Do we hear the pain of the millions of victims of environmental catastrophes?” he continues. “The ones suffering most from the consequences of these disasters are the poor, those who are forced to leave their homes because of floods, heat waves or drought.”
Like many today, the pope places the blame for global warming firmly on the shoulders of humanity, insisting that it is principally human action that causes a warming environment.
“Dealing with the environmental crisis caused by humans, such as climate change, pollution or the loss of biodiversity, begs responses that are not only ecological, but are also social, economic and political,” he argues.
As he has done on many other occasions, Francis also proposes that the battle against climate change entails a personal and communal change of attitudes and modes of acting.
“We must commit ourselves to the fight against poverty and the protection of nature, changing our personal and community habits,” he states.
“Let us pray that each of us listen with our hearts to the cry of the Earth and of the victims of environmental disasters and climate change, making a personal commitment to care for the world we inhabit,” he urges.
Earlier this year, the pope declared that climate change has brought the world to the “breaking point.”
At the time, Francis wrote that he has “heartfelt concerns” for “our suffering planet,” contending that “the world in which we live is collapsing” because of humanity’s failure to adequately address the crisis.
It is “indubitable” that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons, he argued, adding that its effects are already felt in the areas of “healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.”
The pope has singled out the United States as particularly responsible for the climate “emergency” because of the “irresponsible lifestyle” of its citizens.
“If we consider 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, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact,” the pope said last October.
The Pillar Catholic, an online Catholic news outlet, noted at the time that in fact “U.S. per capita emissions are less than 1.5 times that of China,” adding that China’s per capita emissions levels “are significantly higher than the global average.”
The pope also failed to mention that in aggregate, China’s emissions are more than double those of the United States, and America’s air is among the cleanest of any nation, while China’s air quality is among the poorest.
Francis has stated that climate change is “no longer a secondary or ideological question, but a drama that harms us all,” adding that climate change manifests “a tragic and striking example of structural sin.”