The governments of the world should back “the exploitation of clean energy sources,” Pope Benedict XVI said June 9.
The Pope made his remarks in an address to a group of ambassadors at
the Vatican. His comments came on the same day Switzerland voted to
phase-out its nuclear energy program.
“The first half of this year has been marked by many tragedies that
have affected nature, technology and people,” the Pope said in reference
to the March earthquake in Japan that triggered radioactive leaks at
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
At the same time, the Pope cautioned, “Man, to whom God has entrusted
the safeguarding of nature, cannot be dominated by technology or become
its object.”
The Pope said this awareness should lead all countries to “reflect on
the short-term future of the planet” and “their responsibilities with
regard to our life and technology.”
“Human ecology,” he stressed, “is an imperative.”
“We must adopt a lifestyle that respects the environment and support
research and the exploitation of clean energy sources, respectful of the
heritage of creation and harmless to humans, these must be our
political and economic priorities.”
The Pope’s comments carry a particular political significance for
many western countries currently questioning the future of their nuclear
industries.
The Swiss parliament follows an identical
decision in Germany last month.
Pope Benedict’s homeland will now phase
out nuclear power by 2022.
The Pope said we all have to undergo a “change of mentality” so as to
arrive at “an overall lifestyle that respects the balance between man
and nature.”
“All governments must commit to protect nature and help it fulfill
its essential role in the survival of humanity,” he said, suggesting
that the United Nations seems to be the obvious forum to achieve this.
Pope Benedict also critiqued the way that technology is sometimes used without any ethical consideration.
He warned that when societies believe that technology is the
“exclusive agent of progress or happiness” they make embark on a road
that “leads to blindness and misery.”
He told the assembled ambassadors that putting too much trust in “an
all powerful and ultimately uncontrolled technology” deprives man of his
humanity.
The antidote to this, he said, was for governments to
“promote a humanism that respects the spiritual and religious dimension
of man.”