Pope: Coronavirus pandemic could be nature's response to climate crisis

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Pope Francis has said the coronavirus pandemic is one of "nature's responses" to humans ignoring the current ecological crisis.

In an email interview published Wednesday in The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines, the pontiff said the outbreak offered an opportunity to slow down the rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world.

"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?" the Pope said.

"I don't know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature's responses," he added.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-coronavirus-pandemic-could-be-natures-response-to-climate-crisis/ar-BB12jOw8?li=BBnb7Kz

Prepare for an anti-papist response from the evangelicals.

[jberryhill]

1. "Prepare for an anti-papist response from the evangelicals"

Attributing some kind of "morality" to things like this is stupid - no matter who is doing it.

No, it is not some "revenge of nature".

It's also not due to gays, Trump voters, porn, or thinking impure thoughts.

Nature is quite happy to blow up entire star systems in a single shot. Nature was quite happy to reduce millions of years of life on this planet to toxic hydrocarbon compounds.

Nature will eventually be perfectly fine with the sun expanding and swallowing this planet whole.

This is just another natural phenomenon. Like a black hole swallowing a galaxy over time. It. Does. Not. Care.

It is simply an unshakeable arrogance by which humans place themselves as the most important player on the stage of the universe.

Shaking one's head and saying "The Gods must be angry" is an innate human response to the unfeeling and uncaring mechanisms of nature, but a dumb one.

[harumph]

3. I don't see him attributing morality to this -

He does use the term "response" preferentially. Catholics (generally) don't attribute natural disasters to
an "angry G_d." In any case, it's a far cry from evangelicals thinking that everything bad is the result of
G_d getting pissed. At least he's speaking about the environment.

[jberryhill]

4. "he's speaking about the environment"

And animating it with a spirit of revenge.

What was Bubonic Plague, then?

It killed between 75-125 million people around the world, and the steam engine had not even been invented yet?

Was nature getting even with us for something even worse? It killed around half of the population of Europe, making CV19 look like a piker.

What was pissing off nature in the 14th Century? Because it was certainly more upset over whatever it was.

[FarPoint]

2. I thought this too.

We need to find out if true.... humanity will not survive without this Discovery.... Climate change makes sense ...