Pope Likens Climate Crisis to Noah’s Flood

Pope Francesco, leader of the Catholic Church, compared the climate crisis to the Noah's Flood, which is also described in the Bible.

Pope Francesco, who pointed out the urgency of combating climate change many times before, made his analogy to the Noah’s Flood in an interview for a book to be released next week.

Some parts of the book “Defects and virtues” (Dei vizi e delle virtù) written by the Italian Catholic cleric Marco Pozza were published in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

In the section he published on the front page of the newspaper with the heading “Call from the Pope: If we do not change attitude on climate, there will be a deluge,” the Pope said: “The Bible says that the flood is the result of God’s wrath… According to experts, it is a myth in the Bible. But myths are also a form of understanding. Archaeologists say the flood is a historical narrative, as they found traces of floods during excavations. This was perhaps a massive flood caused by the rise in temperature and the melting of the glaciers. If we continue to follow the same path, this will happen now. “

Pope Francesco had previously conveyed messages that the climate crisis constitutes a global emergency and action must be taken to prevent disaster.

With the circular named “Laudato Si” published in 2015, the Pope drew attention to the severe environmental, social, economic and political consequences of climate change.

At a press conference, the Pope asked why political officials are delaying in taking action on climate change, “Why? I think of a sentence in the Old Testament: Man is a fool, a blind stubborn person. “Human is the only animal that has fallen into the same pit twice”.

Swedish student Greta Thunberg, known for her actions against the climate change crisis, met with the Pope in the Vatican in 2019, and then told the Italian press, “Pope Francesco is the first world leader to address the acute climate crisis. “We are on the same side as we have a common goal of protecting our planet and wildlife,” he said.