Liberal and Reformist Pope Francis

Pope Francis (Photo: www.telegraph.co.uk)

Pope Francis, the supreme leader of world's 1.2 billion Catholic Christians, is visiting Bangladesh. Francis is the third pope to visit this land after Pope Paul VI on Nov. 26, 1970 and Pope John Paul on Nov. 19, 1986.

Pope Francis beholds a liberal worldview that includes everyone and excludes none.
A prolific change-maker, Pope Francis is determined to turn the Church "a guiding light and moral conscience" in an ultramodern and increasingly secular world.
  
On 13 March 2013, as he emerged as pope, he renounced traditional red papal mozetta, and worn a simple white cloak and a wooden cross. Thus, he sent out strong signals that he was there for change. 

Bangladesh: God’s own country or God forsaken land?



The red circle shows central part of Bangladesh is most vulnerable for earthquake (Photo: www.priyo.com)

If the environmentalists and seismologists are right, Bangladesh could turn into the definitive God forsaken land any time now.

A recent report by the Earth Institute of Columbia University in the United States says the next great earthquake, after the ones in Haiti and Japan, is lurking beneath Bangladesh and likely to jolt the land imminently.

Bangladesh is the most crowded place in the world with over 160 million people squeezed into just 147,570 sq kms of land.

If the disaster takes place near the capital, Dhaka, where the population is over 15 million, it will undoubtedly be the gravest human tragedy of all time. Not just because it happens in such a crowded country but also because people here have no safety net to face such a calamity.

But that’s not the only dire prediction. A couple of years back, a group of environmentalists warned that the sea level will rise by nearly 10 cm in the next 50 years. That will be enough to completely submerge the Maldives islands and wash away about 20 costal communities in Bangladesh, turning millions of inhabitants into climate refugees with no possibility of a return.

All the signs say that Mother Nature has been enormously violated worldwide and Bangladesh is no exception.

Now the world is repaying the cost. But isn’t Bangladesh paying too much?

Published on UCAN Blog- Give Us This Day on August 1, 2011