This week Pope Francis released a 180-page “Environmental Encyclical” addressing the urgent need for humankind to take serious action to avoid irreversible climate change.
CHAPTER THREE, on “THE HUMAN ROOTS OF THE
ECOLOGICAL CRISIS” begins thus:
101. It
would hardly be helpful to describe symptoms without acknowledging the human
origins of the ecological crisis. A certain way of understanding human life and
activity has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us. Should
we not pause and consider this? At this stage, I propose that we focus on the
dominant technocratic paradigm and the place of human beings and of human
action in the world.
It goes on to assert under the sub-heading: TECHNOLOGY:
CREATIVITY AND POWER:
"We need but think of the nuclear bombs
dropped in the middle of the twentieth century, or the array of technology
which Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes have employed to kill
millions of people, to say nothing of the increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons
available for modern warfare. In whose hands does all this power lie, or will
it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to
have it."
He is right. One of
Pope Francis’ predecessors, Pope John XX111 also issued an important
encyclical, over fifty years ago, on ‘Peace on Earth’: this is part of what it
said, on the dangers of nuclear weapons:
PACEM IN TERRIS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIII
ON ESTABLISHING UNIVERSAL PEACE IN TRUTH,
JUSTICE, CHARITY, AND LIBERTY
ON ESTABLISHING UNIVERSAL PEACE IN TRUTH,
JUSTICE, CHARITY, AND LIBERTY
APRIL 11, 1963
Causes of the Arms Race
109. On the other hand, We are deeply distressed to see the enormous stocks of armaments that have been, and continue to be, manufactured in the economically more developed countries. This policy is involving a vast outlay of intellectual and material resources, with the result that the people of these countries are saddled with a great burden, while other countries lack the help they need for their economic and social development .
110. There is a common belief that under modern conditions peace cannot be assured except on the basis of an equal balance of armaments and that this factor is the probable cause of this stockpiling of armaments. Thus, if one country increases its military strength, others are immediately roused by a competitive spirit to augment their own supply of armaments. And if one country is equipped with atomic weapons, others consider themselves justified in producing such weapons themselves, equal in destructive force.
111. Consequently people are living in the grip of constant fear. They are afraid that at any moment the impending storm may break upon them with horrific violence. And they have good reasons for their fear, for there is certainly no lack of such weapons. While it is difficult to believe that anyone would dare to assume responsibility for initiating the appalling slaughter and destruction that war would bring in its wake, there is no denying that the conflagration could be started by some chance and unforeseen circumstance. Moreover, even though the monstrous power of modern weapons does indeed act as a deterrent, there is reason to fear that the very testing of nuclear devices for war purposes can, if continued, lead to serious danger for various forms of life on earth.
Need for Disarmament
112. Hence justice, right reason, and the recognition of man's dignity cry out insistently for a cessation to the arms race. The stock-piles of armaments which have been built up in various countries must be reduced all round and simultaneously by the parties concerned. Nuclear weapons must be banned. A general agreement must be reached on a suitable disarmament program, with an effective system of mutual control. In the words of Pope Pius XII: "The calamity of a world war, with the economic and social ruin and the moral excesses and dissolution that accompany it, must not on any account be permitted to engulf the human race for a third time." (59)
113. Everyone, however, must realize that, unless this process of disarmament be thoroughgoing and complete, and reach men's very souls, it is impossible to stop the arms race, or to reduce armaments, or—and this is the main thing—ultimately to abolish them entirely. Everyone must sincerely co-operate in the effort to banish fear and the anxious expectation of war from men's minds. But this requires that the fundamental principles upon which peace is based in today's world be replaced by an altogether different one, namely, the realization that true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust. And We are confident that this can be achieved, for it is a thing which not only is dictated by common sense, but is in itself most desirable and most fruitful of good.
Today’s contemporary politicians should learn from these wise words.
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