Oil Spill is Lesson in Humility Says the Vatican
Father Lombardi, speaking on the a recent episode of Octava Dies, the weekly program produced by Vatican Television, said, “It is difficult to calculate the dimensions of the disaster, but they are certainly enormous and continue to grow."
The results of the April 20 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform continue to daily affect the lives of people along the Gulf Coast as well as the families of those killed and injured by the initial explosion and fire.
"There come to mind other grave environmental disasters connected with human activity, like those of the chemical factory in Bhopal, India in 1984, or that of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986, which caused a number of deaths and serious harm to people,” Father Lombardi said..
"What is striking in this case is the sense of impotence and slowness in finding a solution in the face of the disaster, on the part of one the largest and most well-equipped multinational oil companies in the world, but also on the part of the most powerful country on earth."
The oil well’s owner, BP, has been deemed the main culprit for what has become the largest spill in U.S. history, though the multinational corporation objects to this accusation.
The U.S. government has declared a fisheries disaster for the states of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. It is estimated that the fishing industry will lose some $2.5 billion due to the spill.
"This is something incredible, but it is a fact," Father Lombardi said. “It is not the eruption of a volcano but of a relatively small hole made by man on the ocean floor. And yet, in two months, super-specialized scientists and technicians have not been able to stop it. Will we be able to learn a lesson from this about prudence and care in using the resources of the earth and about the planet's equilibriums?
“Certainly, much will change from now on in the oil drilling industry to make it safer," Father Lombardi continued. "But perhaps we can also learn a lesson of humility. Technology will always make progress, but if in relatively simple production processes such impotence is manifested, what will we do if much more complex processes get out of control, like those that have to do with the energy hidden in the nucleus of material or still more in the processes of the formation of life."
In conclusion Father Lombardi noted, "Benedict XVI was quite right to end his last encyclical on the big problems of humanity today with a chapter on responsibility in the use of power and technology."
