Pope Francis expressed his concern Sunday for people suffering from the effects of wildfires in California and South America.
“I would like to express my closeness to the populations affected by the fires that are devastating so many regions of the planet, as well as to the volunteers and firefighters who risk their lives to extinguish the blazes,” Pope Francis said at the end of his Angelus address Oct. 11.
“I am thinking of the West Coast of the United States, particularly California … May the Lord sustain those who are suffering the consequences of these catastrophes,” he added.
A fire in northern California has grown to be larger than the state of Rhode Island, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The August Complex Fire was formed when hundreds of individual wildfires fused together creating California’s first “gigafire”.
A gigafire is a wildfire that has burned through millions of acres of land. At least 31 people have died in California’s wildfires, and economists at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research believe that this year’s California wildfires could cost at least $10 billion dollars in damage.
The pope said that he was also praying for those suffering from wildfires in the central regions of South America, the Pantanal area, Paraguay, the banks of the Parana River, and Argentina.
The above comes from an Oct. 11 story on the site of Catholic News Agency.
He doesn’t like America but enjoys a good CA wine every so often. Maybe he cares, maybe it’s a way to talk up the climate. Doesn’t matter, we are under the patronage of Our Blessed Lady, not pachamama, and will be just fine. Bottoms up, your holiness.
Cabernet, the Pope likes America, he doesn’t like the way our economic system works to the disadvantage of so many people. People come to leadership positions, like the Papacy, with a lifetime of experiences. Francis came from a world filled with poverty, where a small 1% of the population held the wealth of the nation while the rest were having a hard time finding good places to live and or food for the table. What would you expect him to think about us, where 1% of the population owns more than the bottom 150,000,000 people? What would he think about the miles-long lines at food banks across the country? What would he think about the millions of people who don’t have adequate medical care? While we still lead the world in so many ways, our economic system could use a tune up, don’t you think?
Sadly, the Holy Father is a man who embraces the pagan pachamama and accepts a hammer and sickle crucifix. He has far left leanings, as obviously you do too, and while he may want American dollars to fill Vatican coffers, he holds Americans in contempt. In truth, it all probably boils down to jealousy.
Ours is the most generous nation in the world, bar none, and while you and Obama may want to apologize for that, I won’t. Your wish for a radical economic agenda will turn America into Francis’ beloved, yet impoverished and crime ridden Argentina. No thanks, comrade.
I have been told by people coming from that area, that the government will not let the land owners take out the underbrush, or have government employees do it. Underbrush makes the fires hotter.
At least one fire in an area where some of my relatives live was set as a man was seen setting it along the freeway. Thankfully the wind changed, and they did not have to evacuate, but others did. It was extinguished before it did too much damage.
Yes, it’s true, environmental whackos are in charge and forests can’t be cleaned up, more to burn. Also true, lots of proven arson that whackos blame on climate change. Waiting for Pope Francis to condemn the arson.