Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Breitbart reports that Pope Francis’ Christmas address, which traditionally touches on the gravest issues facing the world, completely omitted mention of the environment and climate change.

In the Pope’s annual Christmas message to the world that traditionally highlights the gravest problems facing humanity, Francis repeatedly underscored the evils of terrorism, especially in areas dominated by the Islamic State, and completely skipped over environmental concerns that have often figured prominently in his discourses.

This year’s papal message delivered at noon on Christmas day, called “urbi et orbi”—to the city (of Rome) and to the world—focused on the people hardest hit by wars and terrorism, in particular the Middle East.

Precisely “where the incarnate Son of God came into the world,” Francis said, “tensions and violence persist, and peace remains a gift to be implored and built.”

In his prayer for peace, Pope Francis explicitly referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the ongoing war in Syria, and the atrocities wrought by Islamic terrorists in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and sub-Saharan Africa.

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Conspicuous by its absence was any reference to climate change or environmental concerns, despite the fact that less than a month ago the Pope said that humanity was “on the brink of suicide” because of global warming and that the COP21 climate meetings in Paris might be the last chance for mankind to avert environmental destruction.

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