Chip Bok's Bokbluster

Mike Grunwald, in Politico, was surprised the pope didn’t directly mention the climate in his speech to Congress. Instead the Holy Father referred to his 184 page encyclical on climate and capitalism. Gunwald went back and actually read the thing. He found it to be “super weird”:

The pope’s message in Laudato Si is surprisingly gloomy for such an inspiring figure, especially at a time when the world’s largest emitters, the U.S. and China, are cleaning up their own act and leading a push for global reductions in Paris. Pope Francis writes about the dangers of excessive growth, which “leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit,” but economic growth usually produces better environmental protection, which often seems to be a luxury poor countries can’t afford…

“There is also the fact that most people no longer seem to believe in a happy future,” the pope wrote in Laudato Si.

Aw, Your Holiness, is that really a fact? It really feels like things are starting to get a little better, and may be on path to get a lot better. Have faith.