Pope Paul VI, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, famously wrote that “Through some crack the smoke of Satan has entered into the Church of God.”
He didn’t know the half of it.
Under the reign of Pope Francis, the “smoke of Satan” has become more like the “cologne of James Lovelock,”* as the fragrance of lunatic environmentalism runs wild. Once the fount of Western Christian humanism, the Roman Catholic Church at its highest levels now goes seeking the applause of a profoundly anti-human quasi-religious movement.
This week brought the latest in a long line of extraordinary statements, events, and articles demonstrating which way the wind blows in Rome. Published by the Vatican News Service, it is from Fr. Bernard Mayaki, SJ (those initials, standing for “Society of Jesus,” are always a bad sign). In the article, which carried the tone-deaf title, “Coronavirus: Earth’s Unlikely Ally,” he writes,
The coronavirus pandemic is a global health concern. Almost every country has adopted some form of precautionary measure against the spread of the Covid-19 virus. In many places, borders are closed, workplaces shut down, international air travel restricted and people have been asked to stay indoors.
The reduction in human activity is having an unintended benefit: Earth is healing herself.
The idea that this is happening in a matter of weeks is ludicrous, of course, and all of the examples he then gives (fish “returning” to the canals in Venice, China seeing a “significant reduction” in nitrogen dioxide in its air, Hong Kong seeing a drop in air pollutants by “nearly a third from January to February”) have all been debunked by National Geographic and others. But it’s what he goes on to say that’s so bizarre:
The quick response of many countries in the face of the coronavirus pandemic indicates how much more can be done for the planet.
Some countries are already preparing to restart their economies after the pandemic. Many see this as an opportunity to consider sustainable options.
Tens of thousands are dead, uncounted thousands are still suffering in ICUs, millions of family members are grieving or terrified of what the next several days may bring, millions more are worried about whether they will have a job when this is all over–and all this twit can think about is that drastically reducing humanity’s economic activity has allowed the fish to “return” to Venice’s canals (the fact is they never left, they just couldn’t be seen because of the murkiness of the water).
There’s not a word of comfort, sadness, mourning in this short article for the staggering losses so many have experienced. This inhumanity of this piece generated so much outrage world-wide that it has been pulled from the Vatican News web site. Instead, he concludes by quoting Francis bashing humanity for its cavalier treatment of our world:
In his 2015 Encyclical on the care of our common Home (Laudato Si), Pope Francis highlights the urgency of taking care of the earth. Lamenting the effect of human activity on the planet, he says “Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years.”
Yes, no question, the excesses of Industrial Revolution are exactly what’s pertinent at the moment. As His Holiness stated in his own brain spasm a couple of weeks ago, COVID-19 shows that Mother Nature is “having a fit” over our damage to the environment, because nature “never forgives,” and asks, “Is it possible that this is nature’s hour of reckoning with us?”
The lack of concern for the human toll of this pandemic is incredible. The environmentalist exaltation of the silver lining is disgusting. And the two together make one wonder just what is being worshiped in the Vatican these days.
*–James Lovelock is the father of the so-called “Gaia hypothesis,” which suggests that the Earth itself is a living organism. It has been rejected by most scientists, but has been elevated to the level of revealed truth by brainless celebrities and the high priests of anti-human environmentalism.
