The Pope and Mr. Harper

For the most part I am quite content to not be aware of other people's private conversations. But every once in a while there is a conversion about which I am really curious, or rather one in which I would love to know what was going on in the people's heads and what they could not say out loud.  On June 10th Mr. Harper met with the Pope. I can't imagine two men with less in common or two men who have absolutely no reason why they should talk to each other. What were they thinking?

Harper was on a six day tour of Europe attending meetings and chatting up various heads of government. His primary agenda during his trip appears to have been to verbally attack Vladimir Putin. Such comments are part of Harper's ongoing attempts to prove that lots of bluster and very little real aid are almost as good as having something useful to say or contribute. It was Mr. Harper's usual shtick of playing to small groups of people in Canada who still have roots or connections to their ancestral home. He apparently continued with that theme when he meet with the Pope. He could have talked about the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he could have invited the Pope to make a formal apology for the Catholic church's participation in residential schools, or he could have talked about something that the Pope was interested in such as the environment. He didn't.

The Pope has just released a rather surprising document which is different from anything a Pope has ever written. In the encyclical "Laudato Si (Praise Be), On the Care of Our Common Home", Pope Francis has come on side with both environmentalists and social justice advocates. He suggested in very clear terms that the developed countries need to do more than they are doing to stop climate change. Furthermore, perhaps for the first time, a world leader has clearly discussed the harmful effects of the over-consumption of resources upon the world's oppressed peoples. The parts of this remarkable document that I have read are quite extraordinary specifically in his demands for action now.

In my imagination of being that fly on the wall I see two men - one who wants to talk about how terrible this one world leader (Vladimir Putin) is and how everyone must do everything we can to stop him. The gentleman (I use the word loosely) from Canada is of course ignoring both the fact that neither person in the room has the capacity or the resources to do anything to stop Putin, and that there are 20 leaders of other countries who are just as bad if not worse. The other person in the conversation is someone who seems to expect people to demonstrate some moral courage and leadership. The guy in the white is suggesting that we all (especially those of us in the developed countries) have the responsibility for taking care of the planet.

I have to imagine that both men, coming from such different backgrounds, having such a different vision of what faith means, having profoundly different values and agendas and being accountable to their "public" in such different ways must have had to put on their "smiley" faces and just pretended that they cared what the other one was saying.  Which is a shame. The Catholic church has much to apologize for. If it is serious about providing environmental leadership, it has a lot of work to do before much of the world will take the Pope seriously. But it is trying and for that we should be glad. On the other hand "our" Prime Minister has perhaps marginally less to apologize for but shows no sign that he is prepared to do anything to positively affect the environment. In the upcoming months, Mr. Harper will continue to campaign by waving his imaginary large stick and demanding justice for the Ukraine. He will continue to do all that he can to present himself as someone who is concerned about human rights and will do anything to protect (some) people's rights. But he will do nothing to ensure that his grandchildren have an earth that is still viable.