Andy Drozdziak
After issuing environmental global warnings in his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis has gone further with “Laudate Deum” (Praise God), in which he warns of the selfish obsession with human power and the “irresponsible derision” of the reality of climate change.
“When human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies,” he said, explaining the title of the document released at the Vatican on 4th October, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology.
The new document is a follow-up to “clarify and complete” his 2015 encyclical because, he wrote, “our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”
“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. Let us finally admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels,” he wrote.
The new document comes as a think tank warned that the UK is “in reverse gear” in the global race for green growth.
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) associate director Luke Murphy said: “The UK is at a pivotal juncture. While other nations are forging ahead in the global green race, the UK is moving into reverse gear.
“The absence of a robust green industrial strategy is not only a missed economic opportunity but a dereliction of our global responsibility in combating climate change.”
Explaining the release of Laudate Deum, Bishop John Arnold, Lead Bishop for Environmental Issues, noted that, eight years on from Laudato Si’, targets have not been achieved.
“After eight years, we have to take stock and recognise that Laudato si’ really brought environmental issues to the forefront for all people of goodwill, and it was a very powerful statement, but it came with strong warnings. The unfortunate thing is that eight years on, several COP meetings later, we really have not been achieving the targets that those COP meetings have agreed, and the damage is not being reduced,” he said.
“In fact, in some ways, it’s increasing. Some of the predictions of the environmentalists about what will be happening to the climate are proving to have been, in a way, simplified, and they’re actually accelerating faster now than those environmentalists were thinking.”
Bishop Arnold said the new statement ‘will give an urgent warning’, and called the Pope’s intervention ‘timely’ and ‘vital’.
“As Pope Francis explains, the decisions we make can have grave consequences, not only for those who are still living, but the generations to follow. We have a duty to take action to look after our planet. ‘What is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind, once we pass from this world‘ (LD18)”
Bishop Arnold argued that the climate crisis gives humanity a good opportunity to consider its relationship with the rest of creation.
“Clearly, the way we are currently living our lives is unsustainable. We need urgent political action, on a global scale, to address this crisis before it’s too late. But it’s also right that we ask ourselves certain questions.
“What is our relationship to God’s creation? Is it a resource for us to make profits from, or a precious gift that we are to protect? Are we stewards of the earth, or exploiters?”
Pope Francis also focuses on international cooperation, calling for a new global framework to establish effective rules to safeguard the environment and promote human flourishing. He addressed the lack of progress at the COP international climate conferences and looked ahead to COP28 in Dubai. He urged delegates to “move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned” and to have the “courage needed to produce substantial changes.”
Bishop Arnold called for ‘a more joined-up effort’ between ‘parishes, schools, and Catholic organisations to make sure that we are doing our best to repair the damage we’ve done.’
Picture: Workers dump waste into a landfill located just beside the Dhaleshwari River in Savar, Bangladesh, 7th March 2023. Pope Francis warns the clock is ticking on the dangers of climate change-and both a paradigm shift and practical action are critically needed to avert looming disasters in nature and human society. (OSV News photo/Mohammad Ponir Hossain, Reuters)