Pope Francis likened the coronavirus pandemic to recent fires and floods as one of “nature’s responses” to the world’s ambivalence to climate change.
“There is an expression in Spanish: ‘God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives,’” the pope said in an interview published Wednesday in The Tablet, a United Kingdom-based Catholic weekly.
The pope, 83, was responding to whether he believed coronavirus could spur ecological conversion, the idea for people to lead more environmentally conscious lives through the understanding that the natural world is a creation of God.
Pope Francis said the world had yet to respond to recent “partial catastrophes” related to the climate.
“Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted?” he asked.
“Who speaks now of the floods? I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s responses.”
The pope went on to say he believed the COVID-19 outbreak that has ravaged the globe could inspire change.
“This is the time to take the decisive step, to move from using and misusing nature to contemplating it,” he said.
With more than 1.5 million coronavirus cases reported across the world, the pope said the virus has shined a “spotlight on hypocrisy” as large outbreaks continue in the United States and parts of Europe.
“This crisis is affecting us all, rich and poor alike, and putting a spotlight on hypocrisy,” he said.
“I am worried by the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons.”
The Vatican shuttered Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica to the public as the virus proliferated through Italy in early March.
The pope said members of the Vatican administration were still working while practicing social distancing.
“The Curia is trying to carry on its work and to live normally, organizing in shifts so that not everyone is present at the same time,” he said. “It’s been well thought out. We are sticking to the measures ordered by the health authorities.”
The pope said he wanted a response from world leaders that focuses more on humans and the environment than the economy.
“I believe we have to slow down our rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world,” he said. “We need to reconnect with our real surroundings. This is the opportunity for conversion.”
Read more at NY Post
And what will the infallible DOPE say when it is
all exposed as a hoax ?
Every time this guy speaks you wonder how did he ever get this far ?
Glaciers in the Arctic .
I have a friend that crossed the North west passage years ago in a 17 foot open zodiac craft .
If you pick the time and you are fast with tons of support you can do it .
The Pope has no idea what he is talking about .
Really has there been a more out to lunch leader of the religion ?
They can and must do better .
It has gotten to the point that anyone who believes in
RC Catholicism is an idiot !
I was under the impression that religious people held the belief that god was responsible for everything. There’s nothing by chance and everything is according to god’s design. Extending on that thought then corona virus must surely be entirely god’s creation. Same can be said for any other form of sickness, misery and death and despair. Same logic must include global warming if indeed god is responsible for everything, and if god isn’t responsible then how do you pick and choose what can be attributed to God…I’d like to hear the pope or any other religious authority explain that. If the consequences of believing this nonsense wasn’t so serious it would be the funniest longest running joke in history. These people are beyond irresponsible.
There is sickness, hunger, poverty and mass death because there are simply too many people, but this pope is against birth control.
Such ignorance and irresponsibility to say such things. Do we really expect religious authorities to say anything meaningful about modern living in any case?
Did you know that the Jews were responsible for the Black Plague in the Middle Ages? At least that is what some villages thought and the Jews were persecuted. Of course the idea that the Jews caused the Black Plague is absurd but this shows that many people blame adversities on people and things that they don’t like. The Pope and others that are blaming our current pandemic on climate change haven’t advance beyond Middle Age thinking.
The Pope said, “I believe we have to slow down our rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world,” Let’s consider an area that already has a slow rate of production and consumption, Sub-Saharan Africa. They have a low GDP per person and low emissions. They also have far fewer hospital beds per person and even fewer intensive care units than exists in the typical industrial nation. I’m sure it is not that the Africans don’t believe in having medical facilities, rather they can’t afford them. Can you image what New York’s experience with COVID-19 would be if their medical capability was similar to Sub-Saharan Africa?
“…that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted?” he asked.”
Glaciers at the north pole? A mis-translation? Or just not aware that it’s sea ice?
No Graham, it is clear proof he has no concept of what is happening in the world. He actually wonders why so many Catholics consider him an idiot and have stopped attending Mass. He places far more importance on Islam than on Christianity. The previous Pope “retired”. Popes do NOT retire. Suspicious.
Why did they even bother to nominate this phonie in the first place The Vatican voted for this fake pope he he is authentic as a four dollar bill and a total fraud
Neither the Roman Pope nor any other human speaks for God. This is a small example of why Protestantism arose.
I was about to react on this, but never mind. Blessed are the ignorant (the Pope in this case).. geez…
““There is an expression in Spanish: ‘God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives,’” ”
Yes, your Holiness.
I hear and I obey, Your Holiness.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/03/15/noaas-ark/
Note how Pope’s orthodox theological doctrinal background sees all three as separate, “nature” as somehow an object apart from man and his concept of God. Just the sort of medieval theological thinking we do not need, and challenged by visionaries such as Teilhard de Chardin. Viruses are also part of nature.
Ahhhh so “nature’s responses” to the world’s ambivalence to climate change is how the Plague of Justinian and Black Death (in the middle ages) and the Spanish Flu all came about. Then according to Il Papa, Copernicus didn’t have it right…
“The Earth is the center of the universe” – challenge that “consensus” and you risk being burned at the stake.