Pope Francis Lambasts Pastor Chris Oyakhilome

Pope Francis Lambasts Pastor Chris Oyakhilome

OpenLife Nigeria reports that Pope Francis has made his strongest statement, which is an indirect response to Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Church who has preached against the reality of climate change.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, 59, founder of Christ Embassy, has, on a broadcast, Titled ‘Your Loveworld Specials with Pastor Chris,’ said that the global climate change campaign, which is a call to action for business leaders, cities and people around the world to change energy habits in order to stop global warming, is a hoax being pushed by liberals with climate lockdown on the horizon.

“I told you,’’ Pastor Chris said in a clip played in the programme, “climate change is a hoax, a deception, from A to Z.”
He continued: “The unrepentant perpetrators want us to believe they are trying to save the planet. They are not trying to save anything, but the plan is to recolonise the world,” the popular Nigeria clergy stated.

Reacting on Wednesday, the Pope leveled heavy criticism at climate change deniers and delayers, amongst which is Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Nigeria.

“Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident. No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest,” Pope Francis wrote.

Continuing, the Pope pinned the accelerating climate crisis blame on big industries and world leaders in a blistering statement on Wednesday.

He also called Western lifestyles as “irresponsible.”
“Our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” the pontiff wrote in a 7,000 word encyclical called Laudate Deum (“Praise God”).

“Some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible, at least for several hundred years, such as the increase in the global temperature of the oceans, their acidification and the decrease of oxygen,” he wrote.

He noted that climate change will likely only get worse and ignoring it will heighten “the probability of extreme phenomena that are increasingly frequent and intense,” he wrote.

The pope’s statement is a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si (“Praised Be To You”), which was the first ever ponitifcal writing completely dedicated to ecological issues, which have been a cornerstone of his papacy.

The Pope’s position on climate change comes ahead of the UN COP28 climate conference.

The conference  starts at the end of November in Dubai, where countries will undergo “global stocktake” to assess how quickly they are progressing towards climate goals.