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Pope Francis has warned that the world as we know it is “collapsing” due to rapidly accelerating climate change and global leaders’ inactivity. He singled out developed Western nations as the primary perpetrators of the situation.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church noted in his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, published on Wednesday, that little progress has been made since he issued the Encyclical Letter Laudate Si’ on the topic in 2015.
“The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” the Pope insisted, with the current climate crisis threatening the fundamental “dignity of human life.” He went on to say that the repercussions are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, expressing themselves in “extreme weather phenomena, which are becoming more common.”
According to the Pope, the assumption that poorer countries are mostly to blame for global warming is completely false. The pontiff 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.” With this in mind, he advocated for a “significant change in the irresponsible lifestyle associated with the Western model.”
Francis slammed climate change denialists, declaring that “it is no longer possible to doubt the human – ‘anthropic’- origin” of the phenomena. He remarked that global temperatures had risen at a rate unprecedented in the last two millennia in the last fifty years.
The Pontiff complained that 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.” He also chastised major multinational corporations for their inefficiency.
Francis stated that earlier crises, like as the 2008 economic downturn and the Covid-19 outbreak, gave unique possibilities to “bring about beneficial changes” but were all “squandered.”
The Pope’s 2015 appeal came months before the Paris Climate Accords were ratified, with a Vatican delegation attending the deliberations. In the years thereafter, the Holy See has held a number of conferences focused to combating climate change, which have included both religious and corporate leaders. Francis has given birth.
