Pope Francis asserted during his introduction to a 3-day climate summit that climate change has brought the world to the “breaking point.”
The pontiff wrote that he has “heartfelt concerns” for “our suffering planet,” adding that “the world in which we live is collapsing” because humanity fails to address the crisis.
The Pope argued that climate change’s impact will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many people, adding that the effects are already felt in the areas of “healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.”
The Pontiff said that climate change “is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community” and its effects “are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world.”
San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy, whom Pope Francis elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2022, argued that while abortion is a great evil, “the long-term death toll from unchecked climate change is larger and threatens the very future of humanity.”
McElroy declared that both abortion and climate change are “core life issues in the Catholic Church, but neither should be identified as “preeminent.”
However, Pope Francis has singled out the United States as a major perpetrator of 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.
But those at the online Catholic news outlet, The Pillar Catholic, pointed out 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 China’s emissions are more than double those of the U.S., and the nation’s air is among the cleanest of any country, while China’s air quality is among the poorest.
In his introduction to the Vatican summit, which will be held May 15-17, Francis states 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.”
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