Archbishop Nolan has expressed his full support for Pope Francis' new apostolic exhortation on the environment.  Commenting on the Holy Father's message the Archbishop said it was time for the rich nations of the world (including the UK) to fulfil their promises and make the political choices and encourage the lifestyle changes that needed to mitigate global warming.

The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point … that’s the stark warning at the heart of Pope Francis’ new exhortation on the environment

The Holy Father states bluntly that climate change is undeniable, and its effects are becoming more and more evident, and despite attempts to minimize or ridicule them the danger is pressing.

He calls for politicians to commit to a green future in powerful terms: “The transition to renewable forms of energy, properly managed, as well as efforts to adapt to the damage caused by climate change, are capable of generating countless jobs in different sectors. This demands that politicians and business leaders should even now be concerning themselves with it.”

Pope Francis goes on to state that it is no longer possible to doubt the human origin of climate change… “The overwhelming majority of scientists specializing in the climate support this correlation, and only a very small percentage of them seek to deny the evidence. Regrettably, 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.”

And he pointedly rebukes ‘climate change sceptics’ within the Church. “I feel obliged to make these clarifications, which may appear obvious, because of certain dismissive and scarcely reasonable opinions that I encounter, even within the Catholic Church.

“We can no longer doubt that the reason for the unusual rapidity of these dangerous changes is a fact that cannot be concealed: the enormous novelties that have to do with unchecked human intervention on nature in the past two centuries.”

The Pope says each of us must make an examination of conscience: “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.”

Scientific progress is good, but needs to have an ethical element says the Pope: “We need to rethink among other things the question of human power … We have made impressive and awesome technological advances, and we have not realized that at the same time we have turned into highly dangerous beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own survival.”

He calls for new forms of international governance to oversee the protection of the planet: “Our world has become so multipolar and at the same time so complex that a different framework for effective cooperation is required. It is not enough to think only of balances of power but also of the need to provide a response to new problems and to react with global mechanisms to the environmental, public health, cultural and social challenges... It is a matter of establishing global and effective rules that can permit this global safeguarding.”

Pope Francis expresses disappointment that the COP26 in Glasgow produced limited fruits: “Over the decades, international conferences have been held to address the climate crisis, but they have often fallen short in implementing agreements due to the lack of effective monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms. It is crucial to overcome the selfish posturing of countries for the sake of the global common good…

“Following several Conferences with scarce results, and the disappointment of COP25 in Madrid (2019), it was hoped that this inertia would be reversed at COP26 in Glasgow (2021). In effect, its result was to relaunch the Paris Agreement, put on hold by the overall effects of the pandemic. Furthermore, there was an abundance of “recommendations” whose actual effect was hardly foreseeable. Proposals tending to ensure a rapid and effective transition to alternative and less polluting forms of energy made no progress.”

The Pope condemns the tendency to portray environmental campaigners as extremists. “Once and for all, 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.

“In Conferences on the climate, the actions of groups negatively portrayed as ‘radicalized’ tend to attract attention. But in reality they are filling a space left empty by society as a whole, which ought to exercise a healthy pressure, since every family ought to realize that the future of their children is at stake.”

The Pope calls on everyone to react, people of all religious confessions. “I cannot fail in this regard to remind the Catholic faithful of the motivations born of their faith and he urges everyone to play their part.  

“I cannot deny that it is necessary to be honest and recognize that the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international level. Nonetheless, every little bit helps, and avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.

“Efforts by households to reduce pollution and waste, and to consume with prudence, are creating a new culture. The mere fact that personal, family and community habits are changing is contributing to greater concern about the unfulfilled responsibilities of the political sectors and indignation at the lack of interest shown by the powerful.

“Let us realize, then, that even though this does not immediately produce a notable effect from the quantitative standpoint, we are helping to bring about large processes of transformation rising from deep within society.

And he ends with a stark warning for the future:  “’Praise God’’ is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.”

You can tread the full text of the new Apostolic Exhortation at https://www.humandevelopment.va/en/news/2023/laudate-deum-apostolic-exhortation-of-pope-francis.html