Despite the fact that he wrote The Art of the Deal, “the number one selling business book of all time,” Donald Trump said in one interview that he has no time for reading. “I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time,” Trump said back then. “When was the last time I watched a baseball game? I’m watching you all the time.” That’s why it is funny that Pope Francis on Wednesday gave President Trump a copy of his 2015 encyclical letter on the environment and climate change. It has 184 pages and Trump said: “Well, I'll be reading them."
Someone might ask if Donald Trump is really going to read Pope Francis’ encyclical because he doesn’t have time for that and has called climate change a hoax. He is even considering pulling the United States out of an agreement reached in Paris in which world leaders pledged to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The 184-page papal encyclical, titled “Laudato Si,’” or “Praise Be to You,” declares that the world is indeed growing warmer and places the blame on a culture of instant gratification, an alarming preoccupation with technology and political shortsightedness. It calls for a new partnership between science and religion to combat human-driven climate change.
“We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us,” he wrote. “We must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.”
“A sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey.” Pope Francis is blaming industrialized nations because they are responsible for climate crisis and they should find a solution. Also, individuals should start acting responsible, reduce water consumption, cook only what can reasonably be consumed, use public transport or car-pool, plant trees, turn off unnecessary lights and show care for other living beings.
“All is not lost,” he writes. “Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start.”
“Receiving a copy of Laudato Si directly from Pope Francis is an extraordinary gift, and Trump would do well to heed its critically important message on the moral obligation to act on the climate as he meets with world leaders in the coming days,” John Coequyt, director of Global Climate Policy for the Sierra Club, said in a statement. He refers to Trump’s appearance at the Group of Seven summit in Sicily this weekend. The Trump administration is in turmoil over whether to fulfill the president’s campaign pledge to pull out of the agreement.
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