Right
after his visit to the Philippines and meet the thousands of still agonizing Typhoon
Yolanda (Haiyan) victims in Leyte last 2013, Pope Francis is bound work on with his
first ever encyclical on environment hinged on environmental issues such as climate
change. It is expected to be released by June or July this year. Environmentalists
are hopeful that Francis' encyclical will jump-start the next talks of the
United Nation (UN)-initiated climate change negotiation after the last round of
in Lima, Peru, failed to reach an agreement. The pope is scheduled to deliver a
speech at the United Nations in New York in September and expected to take the
global stage taking off from his upcoming encyclical. Please read THIS report coming from his mini presscon while on board going to the Philippines yesterday afternoon.
Lolo
Kiko pledged on his installation as Vicar of Christ to make environment a
priority. Firmly Francis once said, "The
monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate
agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth.
Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing
their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness." This
stand of the Pope irked the rightists all over the globe saying that climate
change is essentially a fraud.
They
do not believe that climate change is man-made. Frank Walker writing for
pewsitter.com said that, “This [Pope’s
stand] is the essence of Socialism. It’s just simple oppression imposed in the
name of justice and it has nothing to do with the charitable teachings of Jesus
and his Church.” Another writer,
Gerard Caplan wrote that, “Pope Francis
is the most prominent leftist in the world.” True, he recently reinstated Father
Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a practitioner of Liberation Theology who later joined
the revolutionary, left-wing government of Nicaragua's Sandinistas in the 80s’. d' Escoto is criticized by the Vatican for allegedly importing Marxist
values into the church. Nobody asked me but my first taste of such theology came
from the book “Ang Kristiyanismo ay
Rebolusyunaryo” by Fr. Pedro Salgado, OP way back in college.
If
indeed the accusation is true that the Pope is the “most prominent leftist” in
the world today, he cannot be compared to his Argentine compatriot in Che
Guevara. Guevara blasphemed Jesus when he said, “In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would
not hesitate to squish him like a worm,” while Francis endlessly reminded that Christ is the center of this visit and not him. That is why personally, Che is not my “rockstar”. It’s Bishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, a Latin-American like
Che and Francis.
Speaking
of Bishop Romero, in August last year, Pope Francis lifts Vatican- imposed ban
on the beatification of Romero, who was shot dead while celebrating Mass in
1980. Beatification is a step towards
sainthood. Pope Francis said this after his recent trip to South Korea: “For me Romero is a man of God. There are no
doctrinal problems and it is very important that [the beatification] is done
quickly." Amen. Is the Pope Leftist? I do not care. All I hope is his visit would change us Filipinos and revisit our faith.
Well,
whether Francis is indeed a supporter of “radical leftist green movements” or a
leftist himself as alleged by haters of the Catholic Church, the Rightists and the capitalists,- if our systems still neglect the environment the moment Lolo Kiko has left us, our Church leaders, lay and clergy alike, and not nature deserve “a slap in the face”...
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(Photo: goodshepherdsisters.com)
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