Pope Francis: We Need New Dialogue About the Future of Our Planet

Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has delivered his long-awaited encyclical on climate change, named Laudato Si' or "Praise Be to You", on Thursday; the distinguishing feature of the pontiff's speech is that he chose to address not only Roman Catholics but all humans, warning against a potential environmental crisis.

"If present trends continue, this century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all of us," Pope underscored.

According to the pontiff, humanity bears the responsibility for environmental deterioration. He emphasized that humankind should "recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption," in order to combat global warming or at least to reduce the negative impact that human activity has on the environment.

The pontiff pointed out that although there are a number of natural causes for climate change such as the solar cycle, volcanic activity, and variations in the earth's orbit and axis, it is the concentration of greenhouse gases that poses an imminent danger to the environment, exacerbating the problem of  global warming.

"Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth," the pontiff warned.

Pope Francis called attention to the poverty issue, stressing that the impacts of climate change deals a heavy blow to the "unacceptably high number of people" who are living today in "extreme poverty." At the same time, there are people who turn a deaf ear to the pleas of the poor and consider themselves "more human than others," vainly demonstrating their illusory superiority.

"We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet. In practice, we continue to tolerate that some consider themselves more human than others, as if they had been born with greater rights," Pope Francis stressed.

The pontiff highlighted that "the absolute power of a financial system" has no future and will obviously trigger new crises. By saving banks at any costs and making the public bear the burden of the protracted economic downturn, governments facilitate speculative financial practices.

Commenting on the pontiff's address, experts suggested that Pope Francis, as a man of action, wants to influence a forthcoming UN debate on climate change that is expected to be held later this year. They noted that Pope Francis has already demonstrated that he is a prominent diplomatic player, referring to the pontiff's role in US-Cuban rapprochement.

Although the encyclical sounded like a warning, Pope Francis expressed his hope that people of the world still have a chance to overcome the environmental crisis.

"God, who calls us to generous commitment and to give him our all, offers us the light and the strength needed to continue on our way. He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward," the pontiff underscored.