Pope Francis is warning that mankind faces a second flood if political leaders do not address climate change.
In a book released Tuesday, the pope recounts the story of the biblical flood and says rising temperatures and melting glaciers could cause another.
“The Bible says that the flood is the result of God’s wrath,” Francis says in the book, “Of Vices and Virtues.” “It is a figure of God’s wrath, who according to the Bible has seen too many bad things and decides to obliterate humanity.”
“The biblical flood, according to experts, is a mythical tale,” the pope says. “The flood is a historical tale, archaeologists say, because they found traces of a flood in their excavations. … A great flood, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of the glaciers, is what will happen now if we continue along the same path,” he warns.
“God’s wrath is directed against injustice, against Satan,” the pope says in the book.
“It is directed against evil, not that which derives from human weakness, but evil of Satanic inspiration: the corruption generated by Satan,” he writes in an advance excerpt published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday.
But the pope said God “saved” Noah from the flood. “God unleashed his wrath, but he saw a righteous one, took him and saved him,” he says. “The story of Noah demonstrates that God’s wrath is also salvific.”
Meanwhile, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, weighed in Monday about President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s priorities, including abortion.
The cardinal said in an interview that he had “some reservations on a religious level” with Biden, according to the Italian a report in the Corriere della Sera.
“It’s true, he’s Catholic and observant. And personally he is against abortion,” Ratzinger told the newspaper. “But as president, he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party. … And on gender politics we have not yet understood what his position is.”
Just days into his term, Biden signed an executive order reversing the Trump administration’s “Mexico City policy,” known as the “global gag rule” by abortion providers, allowing non-government organizations that provide abortions overseas access to American taxpayer funding. He also ended a Trump-era prohibition on abortion providers receding access to government grants under Title X.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), one of the highest Catholic authorities in America, warned Catholics that the Biden administration’s policy priorities could “advance moral evils.”
“Mr. Biden’s piety and personal story, his moving witness to how his faith has brought him solace in times of darkness and tragedy, his longstanding commitment to the Gospel’s priority for the poor — all of this I find hopeful and inspiring,” Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the USCCB, wrote.
The archbishop added, “I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”