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Pope Francis says the current coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic could be ‘nature’s response’ to the climate crisis.
The Pope, who was offered a $1,000,000 donation to a charity of his choice if he ditched animal products during Lent last year, made the comment in a recent interview with The Tablet.
‘Partial catastrophes’
After being asked whether he saw the COVID 19 crisis ‘and the economic devastation it is wreaking as a chance for an ecological conversion’, the Pope said: “There is an expression in Spanish: ‘God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives’.
“We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. 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? Who speaks now of the floods? I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s responses.”
‘Danger and opportunity’
The Pope continued, stating that ‘every crisis contains both danger and opportunity: the opportunity to move out from the danger’.
“Today I believe we have to slow down our rate of production and consumption (Laudato Si’, 191) and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world,” he added, “We need to reconnect with our real surroundings. This is the opportunity for conversion.”
You can read the full interview here
