Burning issue for Pope

POPE Francis is a Pope for the people, who can identify with them in a world that increasingly sidelines people of faith.

His welcome in San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, was a triumph for him and the local Roman Catholic Church. I’m sure they liked what he said to them. But when commenting on the environmental crisis facing our world, he was off the mark.

Telling the indigenous Tzotzil and Tzeltal Catholics that ‘Your peoples . . . know how to interact harmoniously with Nature’ just isn’t true.

Those indigenous groups, along with all others in that part of Mexico, have devastated their environment through slash-and-burn agriculture and deforestation for pasture land and growing maize.

It first happened in the highlands of Chiapas and in the past 70 or 80 years the rainforest has all but disappeared. The only Mayans to work the land sustainably are the Lacandones, who are also losing their traditional ways.

The greatest problem there is slash-and-burn agriculture by subsistence farmers, and this is true in many parts of the poor world.

Until this is recognised by major public figures who make pronouncements, the issue will never be dealt with and one of the most destructive agricultural systems will continue to cause environmental damage.

Rev BOB SHORT, Nottingham.