Speaking as a Catholic, I am very impressed by those passages of “Laudate ti” which give a critique of materialist pointlessness. There is, for example, a perceptive passage about the importance of a day of rest and another about the beauty of saying grace at meals. Pope Francis paints a vivid portrait of a Western world simultaneously bored and hyper-stimulated by its own wealth and cleverness. Although just as much of a selfish consumerist as the next man, I want to be taught about how to grab less and appreciate more. On these matters, he speaks like a good shepherd, who knows his flock. But when, on the basis of some imperfectly digested science and contentious economics, he tells us that our way of life is doomed, I must sadly say that I don’t believe him.