Even the Vatican may be surprised at the massive amount of praise Pope Francis’ latest encyclical is receiving. That’s because of its passionate advocacy of the need to take strong action in the face of global warming — and its equally strong denunciation of capitalism and free markets. No wonder the left loves it!
The 183-page document, titled “Laudato Si’” (“Praised Be To You”), was released last Thursday, although much of its contents had been leaked in advance. In one of the most frequently quoted comments, the Pope wrote: “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
Wow! There’s certainly nothing namby-pamby in the pope’s words. He goes on to blame capitalism for raping and pillaging much of our poor, defenseless environment:
There are too many special interests, and economic interests easily end up trumping the common good and manipulating information so that their own plans will not be affected.
…
[E]conomic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain….
As a result, “whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.”
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In his letter, the Pope ignores all of the progress to improve the environment that has taken place in the past century. There is no question but that in much of the world, air quality is better than it once was; there is more potable water and less starvation; life spans have increased; and poverty has declined. Granted, we’re a long way from perfect. But most of the world is better off than it used to be.
The Argentine-born pontiff said the industrialized West owes a debt to developing countries because of its exploitation of their resources. He explained: “[D]eveloping countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.”
Pope Francis came down squarely on the side of those who contend that global warming is caused by human activity and poses an urgent threat to the environment.
Barack Obama wasted little time in joining the praise brigade for the pontiff’s appeal. The president issued a statement saying, “As we prepare for global climate negotiations in Paris this December, it is my hope that all world leaders — and all God’s children — will reflect on Pope Francis’ call to come together to care for our common home.”
Interestingly enough, while the left adores all of Pope Francis’ remarks about saving the environment, it ignores his comments in the same encyclical opposing abortion and other population-control measures. “Since everything is interrelated,” the pope wrote, “concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion.” And he continued: “How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?”
But no matter. The environmental activists will ignore anything the pope says about abortion — after all, everyone knows the Catholic Church is adamantly opposed to it — while rallying behind his calls for increased government action to combat global warming.
“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption,” the encyclical says, “in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.”
We’ll probably hear a lot more along these lines when the pope comes to New York in September to speak to the United Nations and in his scheduled address to a joint session of Congress earlier in that trip.
Those who want big government to become even bigger think they have a powerful ally in Pope Francis. And you know what? It looks like they’re right.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest. This article first appeared on PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
