In his encyclical letter, Laudato Si, mi Signore (Praise be to you, my Lord), Pope Francis engages all people of good will in a bid to beckon them to cast a faithful look on our poor and exacerbating world which has for sometime been under human seige for which the aesthetic imperative and harmony of nature has been tampered with.
While not delineating the human factors which have led to an abrupt wreckage of nature, Pope Francis notes particularly the shift in “blame to population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some (and this constitutes) a way of refusing to face the issues” (n. 50)
Demurring on population growth as the sole index for measuring global environmental and climatic problems has for a long time been the refuge of people who disdain facts. Conceiving joy in the stead of rising climatic slavery nominates man, the carer of the world, as a charlatan who poses as a malicious trickster and robs both nature and fellow men of enjoying creative harmony. “We have come to see ourselves as [her] lords and masters, entitled to plunder [her] at will”. (n. 2)
The attitudes of consuming and disfavoured distribution has, thus far, starved and oppressed the poor while the rich continue to consume what has been provided by nature as a gift to all. Racism, wealth, prestige, inter alia are non-escaping criteria for distribution of society's graces.
Distributive power, given to a minority of people, has now been a tool of oppression and exploitation. Population growth is made to carry the heavy loads of blame and uneven distribution and hoarding takes place. This breeds inequalities in society, while the economic, social, political and even religious gaps widen. The poor are deprived of their wealth.
Today nature says, “give to my people what is due them”. Let us endeavour to put an end to the drama while it is still on stage. Barriers of imbalance have to be broken so that economic health will be restored to all.
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