Pope Francis spoke at the United Nations Friday morning and his remarks were, more or less, what was expected: a long push for climate change legislation mixed with concern about the world’s unjust economy. So in general, there wasn’t much to see. But in their particulars, some of the pope’s musings were interesting.
For instance, the Holy Father called on the U.N. to expand the Security Council, saying that
At least it seems as though Francis was advocating an expanded Security Council. He has a penchant for speaking as obliquely as possible. This isn’t always the case, mind you. For example, in the course of his 800-word disquisition on climate change, Francis expressly advocated for something called the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Climate change was the main body of the pope’s speech, but he managed to interweave it with his economic critique, saying, “The ecological crisis, and the large-scale destruction of biodiversity, can threaten the very existence of the human species. The baneful consequences of an irresponsible mismanagement of the global economy, guided only by ambition for wealth and power, must serve as a summons to a forthright reflection on man.”
(Two quick points: (1) It’s interesting to note that Francis goes the full-Gore on climate change, upgrading it from a global catastrophe to an extinction-level event. (2) He used the word “baneful” twice in his remarks.)
As he segued to his economic critique, Francis called on the United Nations to focus on eradicating “extreme poverty.” He said that such a task “presupposes and requires the right to education—also for girls (excluded in certain places).” It’s unclear what that parenthetical of the pope’s really means—I’m working from an English transcript of a speech that was given in Spanish. It certainly seems like the multicultural version of “Who am I to judge?” But perhaps there’s a more charitable explanation.
Again, there is a rhetorical haze over the pope’s words, where it seems possible to intuit what he wants to say, but he is either unwilling or unable to talk clearly. Francis came out with a near-endorsement of Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to say so explicitly:
But the most confusing part of the pope’s speech was the section on the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East. Here is what he had to say on that subject:
These realities should serve as a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of international affairs.
What, exactly, is Pope Francis trying to say here? Who knows. It certainly looks as though Francis is trying to lay the blame for ISIS at the feet of the Bush administration and the Iraq war. Though perhaps he’s issuing an indictment of the international community now for allowing Christians to be slaughtered by the hundreds. Maybe he means something else altogether.
Or nothing at all.
