Pope Francis: 'Revolution' needed to combat climate change
(CNN)As a former teacher, Pope Francis knows how to deliver a stern lecture. On Thursday, he gave one for the ages.
While slamming a slew of modern trends -- the heedless worship of technology, our addiction to fossil fuels and compulsive consumerism -- the Pope said humanity's "reckless" behavior has pushed the planet to a perilous "breaking point."
"Doomsday predictions," the Pope warned, "can no longer be met with irony or disdain."
Citing the scientific consensus that global warming is disturbingly real, Francis left little doubt about who to blame.
Big businesses, energy companies, short-sighted politicians, scurrilous scientists, laissez faire economists, indifferent individuals, callous Christians and myopic media professionals. Scarcely any area of society escaped his withering criticism.
"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth," Francis said. "In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish."