Pope Francis gave us a new Apostolic exhortation after eight years of his path breaking encyclical Laudato Si. The holy father , laments that not much action has followed the message of Laudato Si. Pope Francis has intimately tied together ecological concerns with the dignity of the human person in his message. The care of human life is bound to the care of the earth says Pope Francis. This is why may be His holiness teaches that climate change is a structural sin.
Increasing temperature is the result of abuse of the rich and not the needs of the poor. While rich and powerful seem to pass the blame on the poor because they have many children and even try to resolve the problem by mutilating their women, Pope rightly places the causes of climate change where.it belongs. The holy father reminds us that Global warming has human causes and is not simply natural process. We are reaching a point of no return. Hence, we have the challenge to leave behind a responsible legacy before we pass away from the face of the earth.
The holy father points that we are controlled by a technocratic paradigm . It is this worldview that has become the lens of truth and goodness and ill belief in limitless resources. The Pope calls us to accept the fact of scarcity of our resources and invites us to give up a philosophy that makes us think that anything that is non-human exists for human.
Not all growth in technology is progress. Growing technology can make human jobless. AI is a technology that will edge out humans from jobs at vast scales. Besides, technology is linked to economic capacity. It leaves the poor behind and goes ahead.
If technology is not linked to values, responsibility and conscience, we are heading towards disaster. Hence we need ethics to guide our use of technology. We need a spirituality that will set up the limits of the use of technology. We are part of nature. Hence, we have to ask: what.is the meaning of .my life on earth? There is more to life that lies beyond what technology offers us.
The holy father points that international politics has weakened and calls for international action at multilateral scale against climate change and thinks that it has to be led mainly by civil groups. The Pope advocates primacy of the human person and ethics to prevail over local or contingent interest.
The holy father opts for a bottom up globalisation that promotes cultural integration, knowledge exchange and civil movements leading to new ways of corporation, consultation, arbitration and conversation and conflict resolution and thus, address Public health, economic, social and cultural challenges.
The holy father assesses the success of climate change conferences and finds it to be a mixed bag and asserts that several decision made at those for a are not being implemented. Hence, in matters of climate change we have stay with the global good.
While the past efforts are encouraging, the new conference on climate change in Dubai offers us hope and promise. Holy father says if we have a strong will, we will be able to do our bit to reverse climate change. Appearing to be concerned enough is not enough, we have go beyond it. Hence, everyone has to work to minimise climate change.
To the rich, the holy fathers asks why you want to be remember for your inability to do anything when your contribution was urgent and necessary. We cannot be indifferent to the disappearance of species but have to respond with the sensitivity of Jesus.
Our response has to change life and in turn change cultures . The Pope calls us to embrace a spirituality that unites with all creation and reject technocratic paradigm that divide us from God’s creation. Led by technocratic paradigm we often take God’s place and become humanities worst enemies. Hence we have the Imperative to promote goodness, love, justice and solidarity.
